Captive Orchid
by bleedingxinxspace
Summary: Love grows quicker than neither of them can think, though can they truly find happiness in the end? Can it really be seen as true love or just simple attraction? AU fic Hitsu/Karin pair. Summary changed. Rated T
1. Wintry Lens

**Disclaimer:** I do NOT own Bleach plot/characters/anything.

**Author's Note:** Back with a new story, hopefully you guys like it 'cos I've been racking my brain for concrete ideas. And again, hope you enjoy it. It's a bit slow and an attempt to be less angsty like _The Bridge of Silence _and _Red Moon Winter_, but we'll see. On with the story...

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+|Captive Orchid|+

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+|Wintry Lens|+

Spring—

_It had taken place during the spring, beneath a vast dark sky filled with bright stars, underneath the cherry blossom tree in the park; the place where anyone hardly ever went because it was hard to find. Atop the small hill above the grazing cool grass, as the perfume of the cherry blossoms surrounded the two bodies on top of the ground while the soft breeze wrapped around them like a blanket. _

_Being suffocated by an immense feeling was haunting, yet he could not help but feel her flesh so close to him. How had a simple meeting had lead them to this? A love so strong, so deep existed between the two that it seemed almost impossible despite how much time they had known each other. The silver metal glowed with the light, indicating a small light of their bond. _

_His eyes stared at hers, so deep and passionate they were underneath the starlight. Her touch so faint and almost fragile, her dark tresses sprawled on the floor as her smooth white skin glowed with the moonlight. She looked like an angel beneath that scenery around them; it was far too perfect for a night like this. The white gown lay on the grass along with the simple white shirt and dress pants—they wanted to stay there longer._

_The possibilities of thinking about the consequences now was impossible, not when they were wrapped around each other so tightly and tomorrow would be different then today. Tomorrow would speak of another story because right now that tomorrow did not exist, not when they did not wanted for the moment to be over. A love was sealed on a blossoming spring day. It all had begun on a windy and wintry day…_

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"_Is there a soul in this whole universe that holds that precious key to a sacred treasure chest beyond the level of the sea?"~Cherry_

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Winter—

The howling wind smacked against the window with great force, stumbling forward Kurosaki Karin frowned while shoving away the chair besides her desk. Everything looked fuzzy, rubbing her eyes, everything became clear once again and she yawned. Opening the curtains, the once bright day had turned into a dark abyss as the lamps lit the entire street—surely she hadn't slept for that long. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, the green numbers highlighted the darkness inside the room—it was simply nine o'clock.

Faintly, she heard murmurs from downstairs and knew that the entire family was already home and it seemed that they were watching television. Her dark eyes stared at the simple silhouettes of the objects inside her room as there was barely any light, gently she opened the door and made way downstairs to join the rest. Perhaps there was some dinner left over, Yuzu always made sure to bring lots of food before going back to her own place.

Today had been an exhausting day, running around town trying to take pictures of this and that surely hadn't been the dream assignment for her journalism class—there was still some doubt as to why she had to be part of that club to begin with. There was nothing interesting about the social life in Karakura nor was it really important to write about who got married or who had an anniversary; it was silly and it was a nightmare. Though, tonight wouldn't be so easy as there was an event taking place at the Grand Plaza Hotel in the downtown area of Karakura, some big shot was hosting a birthday party.

The idea of becoming a photographer surely was less appealing now in comparison to many years ago while she had been in high school, the idea seemed well then. Now it was nothing but a torturous road to a tragic life of working on some crappy newspaper, much like the one the university funded and seemed proud of. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone looked at her.

"Finally awake, eh?" Her brother smirked.

"Shut it, Ichi-nii." Karin muttered, running a hand thru her long dark hair and breathing. "Is there leftovers?"

"Karin-chan, there is some in the fridge," Yuzu said, smiling at her.

She nodded simply, walking towards the kitchen and looked for the leftover food to eat before leaving. The event was set to start at ten, some celebrities were supposed to come and other things that were useless for her to know—only were she glad to be taking pictures instead of wasting time interviewing. The smell of pasta filled her nostrils, which made her stomach growl and mouth water slightly. Just how many more days would she continue live like that?

During the mornings there were classes to attend, during the afternoon there were projects to complete and at night there was work to do. Only having slept for three hours at times was hard, especially when finals were nearing and she needed to study. Then there was that job that suddenly had popped up recently that she couldn't refuse—it was exhausting living like this.

"Are you alright, dear?" Her mother entered the kitchen, smiling at her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," she answered, holding back a yawn. The look on her mother's eyes showed worry; of course, it was evident that her body was weak from the lack of rest.

Masaki sighed, opening the refrigerator and pulling out some fruit. She worried over her daughter, that girl was putting too much effort on something she didn't seem to enjoy at all and was only getting hurt without resting and eating properly. Karin was barely at home, taking jobs far away or staying up somewhere while finishing some group project and she rarely slept at all.

"Are you going out tonight?" She asked her daughter, seeing the disgruntled expression on her pallid face.

Karin turned to her mother, staring at the moving plate wasn't interesting at all. "Ah…yeah I have to go to some event downtown. I have to take pictures for the paper."

"You're staying late out again?" Masaki frowned, surely Karin's dream was becoming more like a nightmare and she didn't want her to continue like that. "You have to get rest, you haven't slept much for an entire week." It was very much evident on the small dark circles that were forming underneath her eyes.

Karin sighed; truly this was a discussion that would only end up on not eating anything again.

"No, it is the very last thing I'll do," the microwave beeped. "My job in the university paper is over after a request to have me removed from the photography department."

Her mother said nothing, simply taking the fruit and began cutting up in small pieces. It was true that she worried over her and there was nothing to be done, but there was also that thing that Karin wanted the most out of life itself. Wanting to be independent seemed harder compare to how Ichigo or Yuzu had reigned over their own freedom. It wasn't like she was tied down inside the house at all, but it felt like she couldn't be her own individual self unless she managed to finish college and get a decent job.

Though, it was almost like a punishment for leaving Karakura for almost six entire years for England on a proposition to stay on good behaviour. Surely having a fiery spirit had its own drawbacks, all those girls back in middle school only enjoyed to tease, but she wasn't the type to hold anything inside. Fearing expulsion, she had decided to move out of the country instead and return with a change in her attitude.

"I'm concerned over your health dear," Masaki expressed, handing her the bowl with the cut up fruit. "Karin, you don't eat well…"

"Thank you," she cut her mother off. "And I'm sorry, but I have reached my limit too." With a smile, she took the bowl and began to eat before leaving for the night.

The cold air felt good against the stiffness on her body, packed with camera and a warm jacket, she left the house while saying good night to everyone. Ichigo was due to return to his apartment on the other side of town with his girlfriend and Yuzu was to return to her own house on the outskirts of town with her husband. Sometimes it was hard to think that they were leaving on their own, which wasn't really a big deal at all.

Nothing could be really said about Ichigo leaving, he was the eldest and wanted to get away from the house to be an individual on his own rights. Though, Karin couldn't comprehend the situation with her younger sister at all; especially since she was married now with a baby on the way. Truly things turned out in a different order, but maybe it was just meant to be like that.

"I was about to leave you." An angry toned voice called out in the dark street.

"Senna cut the crap for the night, will you?" She groaned, continuing walking as the girl stepped out of the sidewalk and joined her on the open road.

The night was clear, which was one of those rare nights since winter had begun. The snow was still piled up in the streets and sidewalks, the cold was present too and the wind was still fierce. It smacked against her face, though she declined to even notice as they reached the bus stop. Senna seemed to be shivering violently, that girl was a total freak at times, especially with a small coat on.

"I haven't volunteered to carry your frozen body," she expressed while blowing hot air into her hands.

"What nonsense are you going on about now, Karin?" Senna turned to glare at her; it was obvious that she would die of hypothermia before reaching the party.

"Add to the fact that you are wearing a damn skirt…there must be something seriously wrong with that brain of yours." That was enough said, though the other girl seemed reluctant to continue with the argument, though Karin avoided most of it by shrugging.

Senna continued to ramble on about something, though it was useless to pay attention. There were many questions that remained as to why she had become friends with a crazed girl that didn't have much limits at all. Though, she was a good listener and great supporter.

"Maybe I'll get lucky tonight!" Senna expressed happily.

The dark haired woman groaned—that was the kind of conversation that was avoided most of the time.

"Senna just shut the hell up."

The girl glared at her and crossed her arms. "Bitch,"

They glared at each other momentarily before the bus arrived; neither said anything as they got on. Tonight seemed to be for the long run, taking photos of the big event and standing out the most inside the place. Karin didn't care, being a photographer was much more important than worrying over what she was wearing at the moment and showing up on a gala event. Senna began to blabber on her choice of wardrobe; sometimes that girl was difficult to deal with but was about the only one that understood her better out of the rest of those so called friends.

During the six year stint in England, many lessons had been learned after reflecting upon the many fights she had gotten while in middle school and the special of them all was to tune out the entire world. Her dark eyes stared at the passing streets with mild interest, somehow it was still hard trying to get used to the boring life in Karakura, but it was still hard to come to enjoy it again. She sighed deeply, the nerve of her friend to continue with her endless argument about clothing.

"…that is just hideous!" Senna ended her rant as the passengers stared at her.

"Done already?" Karin stood up as the bus came to a stop. "Just get off the bus now!"

The hotel was located right in front of the stop; surely it wasn't hard to miss the party. Music was loud enough to be heard from outside, a few cars dropped off people and there was a large group of press from the local newspapers already out there. Surely she wasn't being part of the paparazzi crowd at all, especially since she had a pass to enter freely without being questioned at all. The night seemed to stretch out farther and farther away.

"This job sucks already…" she muttered as the two of them walked towards the entrance.

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The many lights in the room were bright; people conversed with others about different subjects. Social events made life feel less interesting and created a self-doubt, especially since there was a lot of behaviour that was uncalled for already. Truly there was a lot of questioning about belonging to this type of society, not that it was by choice to begin with. The laughter that filled the cheerful night was becoming annoying; Hitsugaya Toushiro was becoming restless with just being around many people.

His presence wasn't really necessary, though for his grandparents it was important to show up for the birthday celebration of the future president of some company his grandfather had business with—something about a sign of respect. That had made him laugh, curse those social events and the people that attended them for being a pain in the ass. Toushiro wanted to sit back in a nice pair of sweat pants and a shirt to enjoy some reading before turning up for the night, tomorrow was a long day and a lot of rest was necessary.

Today hadn't been an easy day, having to travel back and forth from construction site to another was no joke in life. Except that there was also class to attend in between working for his grandfather, it created a major confusion hole of sorts in life and sometimes it was hard to keep up with it; though as diligent as he was Toushiro wasn't superhuman at all. Besides, he could be working on his final blueprints for a mock project for class and there was a manual to read, but his grandfather had insisted on being dragged into a party.

"Hitsugaya-kun, always the scholar no matter the setting," the birthday man, Ukitake Jushiro appeared behind him.

"Ukitake-san," Toushiro looked up, creasing the corner of the book he was reading currently. "Social things are not really in my list."

The man smiled, patting his shoulder briefly. "A studious young man like yourself is needed in this kind of society. Times are rough during this time period, so the young people need to become more grounded like you are."

Toushiro nodded simply, it was true that the young population was turning up badly lately. No one cared for grades or education like in the past, there were many in his classes that didn't even bother showing up at all because they simply lived under the pretence that there was no need to become better in life. It was truly disappointing to see those kinds of people, but he couldn't possibly sit down and worry over it.

"Ukitake-sama, the photographer girl is here!" A cheerful voice belonging to a young woman was heard.

A young woman with long dark hair appeared, many stared at her with dirty looks for the way she was dressed. Toushiro did not bother himself to worry over trivial things; he returned to his book once again and ignored the rest. Only that it was not easy as everyone began to whisper to themselves—this felt like an examination of sorts.

"Karin-chan, it is nice to see you again," Ukitake greeted her, smiling like always. "Though, why are you here during the very late night hours?"

"Good evening, Ukitake-san." He heard the woman reply softly. "School assignment, not something I do for pleasure at all." She seemed to be rude speaking like that, but the man simply laughed at her words.

"You haven't changed in that way at all; tell me…how are Isshin and Masaki doing?" Ukitake asked curiously.

Toushiro left, ignoring the fact that people were beginning to annoy him with their talks. Needless to say, there was only one thing to do and was to find the nearest empty place and scream his head off—maybe not the last part of course—only to find some quiet peace. The world truly plotted to suffocate his being with social gatherings and annoying women, especially since his grandfather continued to insist if he ever settled for one woman.

The many that came and went truly weren't interesting at all, simply they flocked at him to be showered with diamonds and he couldn't comply with such requests. He didn't sleep with them nor visited them; they simply came to him during those unexpected visits to the store or whatever. Maybe there had been one he had been serious about while in high school, but she wasn't really interested on him either and treated him like a child.

The balcony seemed empty, the party was still going on a few feet away but there were no people to bother him. The continuous questioning regarding the presidency of his grandfather's company seemed to be a huge topic lately, his grandfather retirement was nearing and the company needed a new president. Toushiro still had about half a year to finish college to earn that architecture degree, to understand the ordeal of business and the whole presidency thing as well.

"…and I heard that she was threatened to be expelled from school." A woman said.

"That girl seems to be tamed; a wild girl shouldn't be allowed to live in society." Another woman spoke. Toushiro simply watched them pass, hiding behind a statue to avoid being seen. "Those six years in England truly changed her." He heard them laugh.

The high society always judged others based upon many things, who really cared about those kinds of things in the first place? Looking at his watch, it was already a little past eleven and he needed to get home to finish some of this work before tomorrow—there was no other choice but to stay late to finish it.

"…always doing the best you can, I have seen your work." A voice said which belonged to Ukitake. Toushiro wasn't the one to eavesdrop on people's conversations at all.

There was a soft sigh; he peered thru the lace curtain of the balcony to see the girl standing in front of the man.

"Thank you, that is most appreciated it by my account," she expressed. He looked at her properly, she had long dark hair, and her skin was unusually pallid and looked like a high school girl. Slightly tall, unnaturally skinny as if she wasn't fed much and dressed in plain jeans and a plaid shirt—an outcast in a crowd that was dressed in fancy clothes.

Ukitake patted her shoulder, a gesture to any person who he kindly admired. "It's always been a pride of yours, the pictures I mean, and truly this year's competition isn't going to be disappointing."

"The course of seasons is this year's theme, there's still one more shot to take before submitting the prints," the girl informed, holding onto the camera that hung across her chest. "I will try not to disappoint your eyes with the shots, though I have to search for the proper picture for winter."

So, the girl seemed to be known for her pictures. Toushiro wasn't much into the arts, let alone into photography to know what was going on. Though, how could a high school student be entering into some competition so early in her life—well perhaps she had some talent. As she turned to leave, her dark eyes looked at his indirectly, the empty look in her eyes shocked him entirely and he felt frozen.

Thankfully, she couldn't see him at all as her dark eyes moved away and stared at something else instead. In an instant, she disappeared quickly and only the sound of her footsteps resounded on the quite hall. Ukitake remained in his spot, smiling from side to side as he turned towards where he stood.

"Truly a man like you enjoys the quite frontiers," his voice was always kind. "Mind if you step of there, it is difficult to have a conversation with someone who isn't present…makes me feel like I've gone mad."

"I'm not the one to intrude, my apologies," Toushiro bowed as he stepped out of the balcony and into the light. His turquoise eyes adjusting slowly to the light, he frowned simply.

"Don't mind it; simply don't be a stranger dear boy." Ukitake chuckled. "She's an interesting girl with pure talent, a rare type to come around that seeks something beyond what people most normally see and she makes you wait in anticipation—she's truly a gift."

"When she grows older, her talent might expand. For a high school student it must be hard to do this job." He commented, stuffing his hands on his pockets.

The man looked at him with an incredulous expression, almost breaking into laughter for hearing such words. Karin was not a child and certainly not a high school student.

"She's twenty-two, Hitsugaya-kun," he laughed. "She's on the arts department in the university, I'm sure you've seen or heard of her."

"No, the campus is large and there are many things that occupy my life to worry over who attends the university and who doesn't." Always blunt and ruthless, Toushiro shrugged.

"Perhaps getting to see the campus more might drive you to meet, but let us not worry over that and return to the party." He led them both back to the loud party and music. "I shouldn't let her waste her time here, it is best to allow her to finish her job and get some rest."

Everyone was enjoying themselves with the fancy drinks and other people, dancing into the very late night and growing tipsy with the consumption of alcohol. Some people began to leave the party, though most of the crowd remained and Toushiro was growing relentless with having to shake hands with random people, smiling decently to the camera as the girl that took them stared with that forlorn gaze. He wondered how she could manage to ignore the rest of the world, filled her ears with something to avoid the words that attempted to wound her or even those glares from women that could literally kill her.

His turquoise eyes met so many times with her dark ones, slowly he felt being pulled by her in an unthinkable way and almost like she seemed to seek him out in comparison to the rest. She would smile at the few compliments from the older men that greeted her, somehow they seemed to be interested on the things she saw thru her lens and he slowly began to gain an interest.

"Mind if you put a little effort on your fake expression," her voice filled his ears suddenly. "I do not wish to take a picture with fake expressions, especially from the likes of you."

"Toushiro, your attitude is always so stiff—loosen up a bit son." His grandfather reprimanded him, turning to the girl. "You're very frank for a photographer young lady, but I admire your spirit."

"I wouldn't mind if you addressed me with a name," she began to take pictures again.

"Karin-chan, so it is true that you are here." Urahara Kisuke stepped out of the crowd, smiling widely. "I'm surprised that old Isshin let his precious daughter out, especially tonight."

Karin groaned, rolling her eyes with great emphasis and looked away. "Can it old man, I'm working here. Get in there so I can take the damn picture and go home."

The blond man chuckled, pulling his companion with him and getting behind the group of people. "Don't be rough on him Karin, he's merely mocking you." Yourichi smiled at her.

The dark haired woman said nothing in return, she clicked and clicked. The facial expressions of the rest seemed to met half of her expectations, but it was impossible to work with real beings and wasn't something that interested her. Nature seemed to be the only thing that could create expressions without being told, though that cold gaze from those blue-green eyes was getting to her. A lot of people in this party were family friends, though it was bizarre to not see her parents here since they formed part of this circle. It was annoying to be part of it, especially since her profession was much different compare to the business or medical things.

The rest continued to be still, she took pictures here and there without anyone noticing her there. The clock tower hit the two o'clock mark, slowly her body was growing weak with sleep and her eyes couldn't focus properly any longer. The way back home was going to be rough, walking was going to take at least an hour without having to meet any trouble and she wasn't going to call on her brother either. Senna had long left; saying something about going with a man that she had met—truly that was some friend who needed mental help—at least she hoped that her friend would get safe home tomorrow.

The cold remained, the streets were practically empty and the world seemed silent as most laid inside their beds asleep. Karin sighed, turning to her right to walk back home and hoping to reach soon to drop on the mattress to get some sleep. Tomorrow there was a long day to be spent while editing and picking out the pictures for tomorrow's deadline, truly everything was going to be a mess. Then there was going to be a lecture from the editor and such—thinking about it would only bring a headache.

"You shouldn't walk home by yourself," a voice came from behind her.

"There's no other alternative, I don't make miracles," she answered, recalling that voice from the crowd inside. "There's no fancy car or limousine like the rest inside, I'm sure you're aware of it."

Toushiro grunted, unable to understand why he was following her at all. He stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets; the weather was like the warmth summer to him. When he had seen her step out of the building, in an instinct he followed her.

"How far is it?" He asked, catching up to her with his long strides.

"In car about thirty minutes, walking and with luck in an hour," Karin responded, feeling at ease with the stranger. "Despite being part of that kind of crowd, our family enjoys the quite suburban life instead." It was odd to just simply say stuff like that, normally people would try to get her to talk about her home or other things; yet she felt the need to say them to this stranger besides her.

They walked and walked, crossing streets and ignoring those who lived during the night like this. A few drunkards crossed their paths, but none dared to say anything at all. Karin noted that the man besides her was known around the area and people feared his demeanour, but it was perhaps that bizarre hair colour and eyes. She began to examine him carefully, he had a strong face fit for any person who held power and intelligence, his eyes were cold filled with strength to them and he was exceptionally tall. From a stand view point he was handsome, dressed nicely in expensive clothing and did not speak much.

Expressions seemed to be hard to find on him though, Karin felt rather captivated by his mere presence and wanted to find something more. Besides that, as her eyes kept on looking at him, this guy was mysterious in so many ways and she wondered what lay beneath that exterior that he showed the rest of the world. Toushiro was his name, glanced at her and she looked away.

"What?" Toushiro asked glancing at the woman called Karin.

She shrugged mildly, looking away to avoid his gaze. The walk continued to grow longer and longer, though soon they entered the street where Karin lived and was glad to finally get there. Though, what about him? He didn't seem to have a car and the streets were dangerous for a man like him to walk around, especially looking like that.

"How are you planning to get home?" She asked, nearing her house by only a couple of blocks.

"That's nothing you should worry over," he responded.

Karin wanted to laugh, but found herself just unable to do so. "Why did you walk with me?"

"No reason at all, a woman shouldn't walk alone and you look fragile." He answered nonchalantly.

She stopped in front of her house, the lights were already out and probably her parents were already asleep. She turned and came face to face with the man; his face was a little too close for comfort. His eyes glowed with the outside light of her house, they examined her closely and he felt his breath fan across her face. Karin wanted to pull back, to look away but it was difficult to avoid the beautiful colour of his eyes.

"W-what the hell…" she pushed him away and stepped back.

Toushiro cleared his throat, what the hell was wrong with him? Her expression had changed, she looked like she was blushing slightly and was fidgeting with the sleeves of her coat, her face contorted into an angry expression with some slight confusion mixed there. He wanted to smirk widely; surely this girl was extremely interesting and quite beautiful.

"Get some rest, those circles might start to make you look like you get beaten up," Toushiro turned to leave.

"Wait!" Karin called out for him.

He turned. "Yes?"

"Ah…thank you. Be careful on your way back." She expressed, bowing at him.

He gave her a curt nod and began to walk away. Somehow he could not help but look back, watching as she opened the door and entered her house to finally get the rest she needed. How come he had missed her around campus, they surely went to the same one and never met each other—how strange. Karin was exceptionally beautiful; he could not help but feel attracted to her and wanting to find more about here.

Once inside, Karin put her hand on her chest to feel her heart beating erratically. That guy was truly attractive, the way his eyes stared deep into hers was quite frightening, but intriguing at the same time. The warmth that was felt when his face was near was truly something else, never had she longed to be near a guy like that in her life. Somehow there was a connection, truly bizarre though, but she could feel it by looking into his eyes. She sighed deeply, making her way to her room and sleep it off instead—there was no way. That night, dreams were filled with turquoise eyes and soft lips, a dream so strong that felt so real that it awoke feelings that had not existed there for a very long time.

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**Author's Final Note:**

1) Some of the plot is still on the works

2) Yes Masaki and Senna are part of the story, necessary and wanted to work with them.

3) Yuzu is indeed married, with a child. It will be explained throughout the story.

Hope you guys enjoyed it, there might not be updates regularly or often. I breath, sleep, eat, dream school. Until next chapter! Thank you so much.


	2. Focal Point

**Disclaimer:** I'm waiting for the day still...

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+|Captive Orchid|+

+|Focal Point|+

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"_That name is but a symbol  
of the role she plays for me,  
a promise unfulfilled,  
a hope of what could be."~ Ron Carnell _

The crowd was fairly large; students from various schools seemed to be interested on the gallery and were particularly interested on the photograph event. Toushiro had excused himself from class, involuntarily coming here out of curiosity; or perhaps with a purpose in mind. Ukitake had mentioned last night that the girl—Kurosaki Karin—was a well known photographer inside the school and held a talent like no other. Perhaps curiosity had gotten the best of him without thinking, but his feet had dragged him inside.

"You need to relax; don't you think so Shiba-senpai?" Toushiro turned at the mentioning of the last name; certainly they were referring to his friend.

"Ha, my lovely cousin here isn't great with the attention, Senna-chan." Shiba commented, as they stood in a small corner while a girl was sitting looking at the wall.

The girl named Senna smiled, patting the woman's back. "Come on; don't just look like the wallflower and let the audience see you at least."

"Ah, what the hell are you doing here?" Toushiro was spotted, it was unfortunate. Though, he did not run away and instead walked towards where his friend stood. "Man, thought that you'd go home and cry yourself to sleep."

"I'm not some sentimental freak," he stated, crossing his arms.

The man laughed, clapping him on the back and grinning. "This guy is truly funny."

"I should've studied to become a comedian than, truly they would be better jokes in comparison to yours,"

"Ouch, that hurt my ego slightly, let's introduce you guys." Shiba Kaien laughed, patting him in the back as his friend scowled. "That over there is Akiyama Senna; she's from the cinematography department and is a second year student."

"Nice to meet you," he bowed at her.

"That right there is my dearest young cousin, Kurosaki Karin; the star of the event today," Toushiro almost choked while attempting to breath, she turned and looked at him with that similar gaze as yesterday.

Instantly, they recognized each other from the previous night and began a staring contest. None could really break it though, almost like their gazes spoke for them instead of actual voices, Senna stared at Karin momentarily before dragging Shiba Kaien out of the way to leave them alone. She hadn't missed it yesterday, she really hadn't left and had seen them exchange glances during the party. She had even seen when Hitsugaya Toushiro had followed Karin out, and it was evident that the two had made a quick connection.

Karin stood from the chair, pulling her cup with her and staring at Toushiro. Somehow it was different seeing him better in the setting, he didn't seem to belong anywhere like this and he seemed to look wounded for no reason at all. Her dark eyes examined his teal orbs, seeking out something that had intrigued her the previous night and seeing the way he kept getting closer to her.

"So, you're stalking me now?" She asked smirking at him like it was the most natural thing.

"Arrogant brats like you aren't worth it," he exclaimed, looking at her closely. "So, this is what you do then?"

Karin shook her head, pulling herself away from his glance just as he looked away and pointed at her pictures. "Yeah, that's what I do and much better in comparison to my work from high school."

He glanced at her, as she chuckled softly. It was strange, they acted so natural around each other and she was different unlike the previous night, where she practically wanted to fight with everyone and rip their heads off for not doing what she had instructed them to do. Karin actually smiled and made jokes as she showed him around the gallery, pointing at some other works instead of her own…she was much more vivid.

She took Toushiro on a slight trip around the gallery, showing him the local talent of future painters, sculptors, photographers and other things. He was quite impressed by it, how come he had never probed to get out of the studio and look at something else besides blue prints? Karin could not help but continue blabbering about art to him, it was impossible not to do so and slightly disappointing at the same time; though he asked a lot about what she thought about certain paintings or sculptures.

The showing in the gallery came to an end; everyone had been eager to see Karin's photographs and they were quick on making her give them autographs. Toushiro gladly stepped aside, allowing the star to sign pieces of paper, notebooks and other trinkets from the young audience. It was strange, just watching her smile dandily at them was kind of funny and just having her glance at him made it all feel right.

They were two strangers, barely aware of each other's name and yet they left together. Everyone stared at them in awe, seeing the powerful man that Toushiro was walking side by side with the beautiful woman that Karin truly was—that was bound to start rumours.

"You…don't work tonight?" Toushiro asked, as they continued to walk.

Karin sighed. "No, quit the journalism photography…it was quite boring and tiring." The cold wind brushed against her, making her shiver involuntarily. "Damn cold."

He removed his coat; it was obvious that she couldn't handle the cold with a simple sweater and a scarf. She was startled for a moment, feeling the sudden warmth and the strong smell of cologne wrapping around her. Their eyes made a connection again, a magnet of sorts kept on pulling them together that both found it impossible to pull away from and at a fast rate they were being drawn to each other.

Toushiro stared at Karin's dark eyes, looking at his own expression of want and need to become embraced by her alone. In an instinct or perhaps just for the feeling, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Why did she feel right? Karin responded by wrapping her arms around him, burying her face on his chest and inhaling deeply to properly correct her emotions. Despite knowing each other only a couple of hours, she could not help but look for him in the crowd—which was exactly what she had done.

There hadn't been any other men that had made her feel like she needed to search for them in the crowds, sure in the past she had left behind a few boyfriends, but none that had made her feel wanted at all. Instead, a complete stranger just made it all possible to want to be closer, almost dancing on a dangerous zone that might become painful. Though, as he kissed her suddenly it was sure that it could not be possible. All those feelings rushed inside suddenly, Toushiro did not know why he felt like kissing her or even hugging her.

She felt alive, almost like those dead wires that had existed somewhere slowly began to gain force and flow emotions that were entirely new in a sense. Those kisses from the past were nothing in comparison to his, it was like he created this feeling and Toushiro pressed himself against her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Karin's scent was different from yesterdays, it was soft and sweet as well, but he couldn't think about it when he tasted her.

"I'm sorry…" he pushed her away suddenly, covering his face with a hand to hide the evident blush.

Karin opened and closed her mouth, unable to find proper words for this. She simply touched her lips, they felt warm still and so bizarre at the same time, this could not be happening. Though, she did not hate it.

"It's…fine…don't worry." She exclaimed looking away as snow began to fall.

He clenched his fists, unable to contain himself and just going for his heart's desires for a woman. That pathetic feeling was unnerving and for the deranged that knew nothing, surely he could easily qualify himself as deranged now, but not as easily when she turned to look at him. That cute blush on her face, that slight angered expression mixed with confusion—had a woman ever looked like that in front of him?

How many times should he apologize for this kind of behaviour? A man with such dignity did not deserved to be thought of, except that the woman did not attempt to beat him or punch him; which was certain by that hidden temper behind that gaze.

"I should get going," he said, unable to think of anything else.

"Ah, yeah…" she managed to respond in a soft whisper. Though, as he began to walk away she chased after him on instinct. He turned as one of her arms extended; she planted her lips against his again.

Karin wanted more, wanted to continue to feel overwhelmed by the feeling of his lips against hers. She hadn't known Toushiro for long, yet as he embraced her it seemed as though they had known each other for a very long time. They were so confused with their responsiveness, though none made any attempts to pull away or stop this rushing tidal wave that pulled them under.

Time slipped away silently, walking gallantly without being seen by anyone and the hours grew shorter. Neither bothered to notice, embracing each other simply without any attempts of leaving at all.

+|---|+

"My lovely daughter—" Karin kicked her father to the ground before allowing him to hug her.

"Damn it can't come home in peace at all," she removed her shoes and entered the house. "I'm home."

"Karin-chan, welcome back," Masaki appeared, carrying the laundry basket. "You're back early, did something happen?"

The woman shook her head, making her way towards the kitchen and avoiding her mother's gaze. Truthfully they would accept, without judging or in discord, the choice that had been made as the ultimate thing to end the destructive road that evidently seemed to be picking up pace. Karin waited until her mother would say something, as Isshin was unable to get up quickly from the kick to his face, because she wasn't going to start an argument at all.

The fuzzy feeling continued to numb her brain, almost making it hard to open the lid of the container that seemed to have gained a life of its own, but it was inevitable to avoid it. Why did it have to make her feel this way? The confusion was on the rim, everything else was pushed aside into the edges and it felt as though it would fall apart. Coherency was a gift; truthfully it was when at the moment all the thoughts were mixed together.

"Karin!" She flinched, her mother gazed at her profoundly and annoyed at the same time. "Are you going to tell me?"

A sigh escaped her lips, denying her mother an explanation was meaningless. "I quit the newspaper today for obvious reasons, my photographs were a success today and…" she trailed away, blushing slightly without having her mother noticed it. "I'm going to be home more often."

Masaki nodded in comprehension, smiling at her daughter for the wonderful news and waiting for her husband to get up from the floor.

"I'm glad to hear such good news," she expressed, caressing Karin's cheek and sighing in relief. Sometimes it was hard to think that her children were grown-ups, though not so much with Karin, but it looked hopeful.

Karin simply smirked, unable to contain herself to hide emotions as she oftentimes did, but somehow with all the events from the day it was impossible not to. The way he kissed her so softly yet passionately, it was going to cause problems from today and most likely to go insane. Though that wouldn't be so bad, as he had promised that they would see each other exclusively, away from anyone that tried to get into their private affairs.

"The editor wasn't pleased, but that job wasn't pleasing me either," she explained, feeling like it was time to talk about some stuff. "Besides, I missed home life terribly; even though I won't be as busy as before and it'll probably make me bored, but I'm here now."

Her mother nodded, taking a seat on the table as well and drinking some water.

"We will be glad to have you back, maybe you'll come back to take pictures of the family again," she indicated, trying to make her return to the usual scenery with family dinners and outings since Karin was practically not part of them like before. "Your brother will be delighted."

She smiled, reminding herself of the silly pictures that they would take together as a family; especially with her brother. "Yeah, Ichigo would appreciate my comeback." Briefly staring at the clock on the wall, "…shit! I have a drawing to do."

"Kurosaki Karin, language please…" she heard her mother yell as she ran to her room. Sometimes it was nerve wracking trying to catch up with school work, but maybe it was helpful to have quit the newspaper after all.

Staring at a model posing was thoroughly confusing; there was no life on the face or the eyes—probably to some—just not for her. Running a frustrated hand thru her head, Karin sketched something out on the piece of paper that had sat for hours in front of her and began to draw. The flow of the pencil markings, the heavy colouring to place the shadows and slowly it began to form mountainous scenery and a wolf standing in between trees.

Sighing again, she pushed away the sketch pad and fumbled with her camera instead. Since there was nothing to do now, somehow it felt boring to just sit there and do nothing. Then, she picked up her cell phone and began to write a quick message to Senna; maybe she could help with this problem.

"Get a hold of yourself Kurosaki, this isn't like you." Karin said to herself, grabbing the sketch pad again and continuing with the piece of work before going to bed.

Taking pictures was just about the only thing that she was good at, or at least what she knew was good at since she could remember, and love was just one of the many things that were pushed aside. Recalling back in middle school, there had been a boy that had caught her interest and soon began to date him—though it felt like dating her cousin or something—so it caused a break-up. Promptly after that, there had been another before leaving for England, but that had ended in a disaster from the very beginning.

While in England, there were many that just flocked to her like pigeons, but the boys there were different. Even so, thinking about it was pointless because none of it made her push aside Hitsugaya Toushiro; it was like he was marked on her entire body. Why was it happening like that so quickly? They had just met yesterday and she thought about beating him to the pulp, but no, instead she was slowly falling for him. Why was he special for?

"Karin, I'm going to come in." Senna called from the other side of her door, interrupting her thoughts.

She turned as her friend entered, she smiled and saluted her. At first, Senna did not say a thing as she took a seat on Karin's bed and waited for her to speak; it was obvious that she was troubled and only messaged her when there needed to be a talk between the two to sort it all out. Karin wasn't the one to easily talk about problems to others nor was she dependent of others, always hiding everything in a box—it was quite sad.

"Mm…Senna…" she always struggled with words. Senna smiled, waiting patiently like always for Karin to properly say a coherent sentence that actually made sense. "Mm…you…I…it's…"

Since the very first day in kindergarten, Senna remembered clearly the small girl with dark hair, dressed in shorts and a simple t-shirt holding the hand of a ten year old Ichigo, scowl formed properly on her tiny forehead and those dark eyes that made everyone feel frightened. During those days, there was a word rarely heard coming from her mouth, though most were arrogant comments and threats to other children that dared to insult her brother or twin sister.

Year's spanned, elementary school it was simply just the same thing lived again. All the boys made fun of her due to her tomboyish ways, playing soccer—though that was due to their jealousy of her talent—and she was treated like an outcast. The whole 'bad girl' image truthfully was legendary, it had become a tale and sometimes she would hear the elementary students talk about the barbaric girl that was like a demon; it was quite a thing. No one really knew that real Karin, the one beneath the aggressiveness and the one behind the lens.

Kurosaki Karin was quiet half the time, hiding her emotions without allowing anyone seeing her weakness or seeing her cry; it was perhaps a Kurosaki trait. Besides, she had changed quiet a lot during her long period stay in England and had returned with a much more nonchalant attitude in comparison to the past.

"Senna," Karin made an attempt to speak again, it was truly embarrassing to do so.

"What's your problem?" She asked, crossing her legs while hugging a pillow. "Come on, tell me or else I'll beat it out of you."

The dark haired woman sighed, a match with her would only result on injuries and unwanted apologies from both parties. "I kissed with that guy from the gallery today." She closed her eyes, bringing her hands to her ears to cover from the scream that was going to come—right on cue it came.

"OH MY GOSH," Senna screamed a little too loud, the neighbours would complain tomorrow morning for sure. "Kurosaki Karin, you are finally my hero."

"Eh?"

"Well, not really my hero, but the most wonderful woman in this world,"

"What the hell are you talking about now?" Senna wouldn't blurt out random crap like that, especially with this type of cataclysmic problem.

The woman jumped from the bed, almost like doing a victory dance or sorts chanting something that was mixed with a bunch of giggles. Karin arched her brow, careful as to not ask about her bizarre behaviour and trying not to even look at the sight in front.

"Do you know what this means?" Senna asked suddenly, grabbing both of her hands and giving her a happy smile. It was annoying. She shook her head 'no'. "Well, Hitsugaya Toushiro is extremely popular in school and almost every girl wants to date him. And, I'm sure you don't care about that—"

"You are right, I don't." Karin said deadpanned, pulling away from her grasp. "I don't care about his popularity or whatever; I'm in a conflict here."

"What is the conflict? You kissed him, big deal…" she waved her hand, sitting back on the bed. "You guys like each other, and don't start with the crap about 'I just met him the other day, people don't fall in love easily' because I won't buy it."

The woman did not know what to say, it wasn't simple to just accept that like she was saying or in any other form. Opening and closing her mouth, Karin found it impossible to speak now. Senna was certainly right, it was not like she had a boyfriend or some lover somewhere else, but it just didn't feel right. Even though she had accepted on meeting him, there was just something that kept her questioning about the entire thing.

Feelings did not flourished or bloomed so quickly like that, love at first sight was just some ideal that people wanted to believe in to escape the loneliness in life. The way her heart was yearning for that encompassed feeling was a little too strong, but perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

"I just don't know…if this is right." She expressed because it was soon, a little too soon for it to be called something.

Senna sighed; the girl was slightly stupid when it came to feelings. "Karin, things like that don't just knock on your door and ask permission, they just happen out of the sake of it; almost like destiny." Sure love was nothing but a confusing thing, a puzzle of sorts that no one could actually put together in order to understand it.

"Damn it," was all Karin could say about it.

+|---|+

* * *

_So, this is going a little rushed and such, but it's for the purpose of getting into the more interesting parts here. And, I've changed the way the plot was going, so now I'm adding the usual stuff that my other two last fanfics had on them. Can't help it, I just can't write anything happy at all!! What's wrong with me? Okay, so please be patient with my story and try not to hate it!! Okay, I'm not going to beg at all 'cos that's slightly pathetic. The next chapter will be better, or at least I hope it is 'cos this chapter did not turn out like I wanted for it to do. Yes, yes their relationship is rushing quickly, but that's how I wanted it to be. Sighs, well I'm not sure when the next update will be due to the fact that my 3rd semester in school starts on Tuesday next week, so gotta prepare for that. Sighs_, _I'll try to update before that. Thank you for reading!! _


	3. Red Sentiments

**Disclaimer:** Sobs...even if I conquer the world it would seem impossible to own Bleach! On with the chapter...

* * *

+|Captive Orchid|+

+---+

+|Red Sentiments|+

"…_the wreath of love was woven with sparkling stars for flowers"~Samuel Taylor Coleridge _

Winter—

Toushiro sat there, deflated with all those thoughts compressing against his head while trying to avoid them all; though it was almost impossible. Though, there was absolutely nothing to do as it was Saturday and his grandfather had insisted that he should stay home to rest; though he couldn't argue against that particular thing at all. His turquoise eyes focused on the television, mind obviously wanting to just numb itself away as to avoid going mad at any moment, though it would prove otherwise. It was perhaps not smart enough to sit there, bored mostly out of self-pitying and self-sacrificing just to avoid being seen by those annoying women that continued to come to the house.

The chance about avoiding seeing them was practically zero to none; it wasn't an easy task either since his grandfather had made a point of wanting him to go out—again. That seemed to be about the only thing that the family continued to press about—marriage. There was absolutely no point to it momentarily, since Toushiro felt like it wasn't time just yet; besides, he had that woman to think about for the time being. Kurosaki Karin was just the woman he continued to look for, despite finding her, it was harder to have control with her around.

For three entire weeks they met regularly out by the city limits, no one knew them there and no one would bother them there; it was a private thing for them. Though, there was only one person that seemed to know about them, but no one particularly troublesome to actually worry about. He was keen on continuing seeing Karin; slowly they were beginning to grow attached to one another rather quickly, confiding each other about secrets things or just randomly talking about no particular subject.

She was smart, extremely attractive, funny, sarcastic, rude, arrogant, foul mouthed—it was an endless list—but what he liked most about her was that she cared deeply about him. Though both knew that it was moving so quickly, maybe it was hard to keep the truth from each other and they were already acting like lovers. That compassionate woman was truly a rare gem; even as cliché as it sounded. He cared about her, just seeing her laugh about the most mundane things was truly a delight sort of speak, the way those dark eyes stared deep into his; it was an overwhelming and satisfying feeling.

"Toushiro, what are you doing?" His grandmother looked at him oddly, carrying a bag on her arms. "Poor boy, you look like a zombie just sitting there staring at that thing…come and give me a hand here."

The white haired man said nothing in return, pushing himself away from the couch and following the elderly woman from behind. How strange it was, losing one's self like that in the midst of thinking and trying to find a resolve for one's feelings. That was the thing about feeling like a lost puppy or feeling like a fool in love; Toushiro was complete new to this. Where to begin and where to start it all? Only there was that feeling of the heart, squeezing itself tightly and trying to come up with a solution.

"It's far early in the morning, so rare of you to sit there and watch television all day," the woman commented as the two began to put up the groceries.

Toushiro unpacked the vegetables and began to wash them, trying to occupy his mind instead of having to run back into that little corner to think about her.

"Changing routines," his voice was soft, maybe he was hopeless and a fool. "Though I will be going out today, rather than burying myself into that couch."

His grandmother chuckled. "A fine boy like you should bring a woman home, is there ever going to be one?"

"That's something I rather not talk about,"

"You aren't exactly growing younger, neither of us are." She looked at her grandson. "You're twenty four years old dear boy, going to a fine school and you have a good position in society; yet is there no one you find good enough for you?"

He turned to look at the woman, seeing her hopeful expression. "Does everyone in this house insist that I should bring a woman home and marry quickly?"

"I do want a grandchild quickly, not getting younger here boy." She smacked him upside the head, he groaned. "Do as you're told, at least get a girl friend. Forget about that other one."

It had been so long since she had mentioned that particular thing, it had been ages since he remembered that girl stepping inside this house and only trying to act like a housewife. They had been childhood friends, grown up since they had been in diapers and attended the same school until middle school. Toushiro remembered that girl clearly as the early morning sun, that warm and happy smile, and her words of claiming that she would become his bride.

How long had it been? Almost ten years since the last time he had seen her, ten years since he had heard her laughter fill the usually quite house, ten years since she had made his grandparents laugh so hard, ten years since the first time he ever kissed a girl…how far it seemed. Thinking back on it, Toushiro did not feel the need to recall anything else, it had been ten years since the heartbreak that threatened to nearly suffocate him and eventually kill him.

"Kindly grandmother, never remind me of that girl ever again," he muttered coldly, walking away and off to his room. That was the thing about the past that didn't seem to want to go away, always coming back to laugh at his face for being a completely dumb ass for never noticing. How cruel had it been?

It had taken ages to forget that betraying feeling, that stabbing pain that continued to open the wound that was there. He dropped on his futon, his eyes staring up at the ceiling while trying to numb away those feelings that should've been kept in the past. It wasn't even a breakup at all, it was simply a betrayal of sorts where his feelings had been played around with; he groaned softly at that. There was no use of thinking back on it again; turning to look at the clock hanging on the wall and saw both hands pointing exactly on the roman number ten.

Before drowning in sorrow like a teenage boy, Toushiro stood up quickly and went to grab a towel to shower. Karin wanted to meet him and drag him around the mountains for some photo session that she had to do, not that he would complain of spending time with her, but it was the fact that they had to travel all the way to Seireitei for it. At least there won't be time wasted on a couch watching useless commercials about home appliances or watching celeb gossip; it would truly declare loss of mentality on his behalf.

+---+

After a nice shower, Karin feels relaxed as she pulls over a large wool sweater on top of her blue and black stripped tank top and pulls a vest on top of the sweater. It would be bad to catch a cold during her outing with that man, along with her camera in place—it would be a rather nice day to the gloomy weather out there. After finishing dressing, her feet dragged her to the kitchen to have breakfast and quickly leave home.

Masaki and Isshin had both left for their perspective jobs for the day, though her father hadn't returned during the night and would most likely stay in the hospital for a while. Her mother was most likely enjoying playing with all those chemicals to improve medicine; it was so like her to try to save lives. Ichigo wasn't due to make a visit until tomorrow night, supposed to bring along his girlfriend of three months and no one had met still. Yuzu was going to Kyoto to visit her in-laws; it was just that fantastic to have a family that had so many things going—at least she had a date.

"Morning, Karin-sama," an elderly woman entered the room, dressed on a traditional wear and with a rag on her hands. "I thought that you wouldn't wake up early on a day like this."

The dark haired woman turned, looking at the housekeeper that usually came around this hour to do the housecleaning and to keep it in place.

"Kimiko-san, aren't you here too early?" Karin said, staring down at her watch and seeing the hour. "Shit, I'm going to miss the twelve-thirty train."

"Karin-sama, that filthy mouth of yours," Kimiko glared at the woman, as she quickly stuffed her mouth with cereal. "Those table manners, what have they been teaching you in school young lady?"

"They don't teach table manners or vocabulary," she gulped the milk from her bowl. "My behaviour can't change from one day to another. I've got to run now." She ran off the table, almost knocking down the expensive vase that sat on the hallway by a pillar; her mother would cut off her head if that thing were to break.

The train station was hardly a pleasant sight, everyone was out and about even on a weekend and Karin barely made it to it; it would've been a waste to wait until the next train. Toushiro would most likely get annoyed if she arrived late, plus she had been impatient for the past couple of hours. So much little time they had known each other, the feelings continued to grow still and it was like a vine wrapping both of them together—there was no way of a possibility of breaking apart. She sighed, turning away from the window and staring down at the floor instead.

Those feelings were surreal to her and almost impossible to actually believe, but each time that she knew that she had to meet him her heart seemed to beat wildly at it. The feeling of his lips against her, his soft caress against her cheek and that strong smell that filled her; it was almost suffocating drowning in such sensations and impossible not to either. Karin could not help thinking about those days at times; the possibility of even attempting to push them aside was none existent. Her skin prickled at the thought of Toushiro touching her softly, she touched her lips momentarily as if each kiss that they shared was like the very first—that was shocking.

The train came to the destined stop; her dark eyes already sought the pair of turquoise eyes in the crowd, along with that white mop of hair. There, in the middle of the station he stood there, his hands stuffed on the pockets of his green jacket and looking like a statue standing still. Karin raced forward to catch him; Toushiro saw her and waited for her body to collide against his. That sweet scent that wrapped itself around him was enough, the feel of her warmth together with his—it felt like he was always waiting for her.

"Sorry," she expressed, letting him go. "Woke up slightly late and there was a lot of people in the train station."

He nodded. "Its fine, should we get going?"

Karin smirked. "You better be ready for it then," she grabbed his arm and tugged him out of the station and out into the town.

Seireitei was rather popular for its country sides, popular spot for the popular Hanami festival in spring and for summer festivals as well. The city wasn't as big or as industrialized as Karakura; it was quieter most of the time and the forests that cover a lot of the mountains around were truly beautiful. The theme of Karin's next project was set in the mountains with a magical feel to it; she just needed to find the place where her shots would be taken.

Both took the local bus towards the forest, their hands met each other and intertwined; it was the normal thing between the two and practically natural. They had travelled the town in numerous occasions, so they had become familiarized with the place already and knew what to look for. The frequent visits to Seireitei were precious for both of them; they could appreciate their time together.

Karin turned to look at Toushiro, his head was facing forward with his eyes closed; it seemed like he had fallen asleep already. He looked quite peaceful; the hood of the jacket was pulled over his head while his scarf was wrapped around his neck. A few women stared at him, gluing their eyes to the rather mysterious looking guy sleeping there; Karin wanted to simply laugh.

Of course, it was not every day that some handsome guy that could easily be mistaken for a model would get on the bus or been seen around the area either. His hand never let go of hers as they arrived at their stop near the woods, getting off Toushiro looked around and lead her.

"Where are you taking me this time?" She asked, curious about where they headed as they entered the path towards the forest.

He was familiar with the trails around the mountains; those effortless breaks in Seireitei with his grandfather paid well after all. Besides, Karin was also familiar with the setting as well as both walked towards the river bank deep in the woods; the perfect setting for pictures.

The rushing of the river was peaceful, along with the soft wind that breezed across the entire forest around them; there was some snow still left as the frozen rock crunched beneath their feet. The sun was peaking slightly thru the clouds above, it was quite most of the trail to the river as both walked silently while holding hands still.

Karin looked at him briefly, seeing his white hair sway with the gentle breeze that flaunted thru the forest and his eyes changing into a dark green colour while his expression was peaceful; this kind of place was fitting for someone like him indeed. She sighed softly, tearing her eyes from his face and staring at the woods before her and watched in awe as they continued down the trail; she was not familiar with the setting at all. They were deep in the woods, the sounds were more of the nature around them as they walked farther away from civilization—the mysterious backdrop to the forest was what she had been imagining all along.

He stared at the woman briefly, his hand still holding on hers tightly as they trailed farther to the river and he grin slightly at her expression. It was quite childish seeing her grin like that, her dark eyes glowed—she was inside of her own mind perhaps imagining things already—he couldn't help but chuckle softly at that. Toushiro could not help but stare at her at time that was a slight reminder that he couldn't lie to himself at all regarding his feelings for her; they were strong feelings that sometimes they hurt him deeply.

Once they arrived by the river, Karin began her work and jumped around trying to catch something interesting about the river at first.

"Try not to jump around like a monkey," he called out as he watched from afar.

"Shut it, don't plan on falling stupid." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Toushiro relaxed beneath a tree and watched her simply. Karin's smile changed at times, of course she was doing what she loved the most and he enjoyed seeing her happy all the time; it couldn't compare to the old gloomy expression she had the first time they ever met. He would dream of her most of the nights, not that it was normal in the first place, but they were dreams filled with strange emotions that he had never felt before.

They hadn't been like those fluttering emotions from the past, the ones he was having recently felt much painful and much real than those from the past with that other woman. He closed his eyes, recalling something about her—that smile and those brown eyes—they had been filled with a cheerful life and filled with warmth, but nothing compared to Karin at all. That smiled and those dark eyes were haunting, hypnotizing and rather mysterious at times as well. He drifted into those old memories…

Karin turned from the large rock where she stood, sighing while seeing Toushiro sleeping already, it couldn't possibly be boring to be here. Though, that somewhat troubling expression that formed on his face was quite strange—he never mentioned that something bothered him. She knew that he had problems to deal with at home with his grandparents, who continuously pushed the subject of marriage, and the fact that they were the only family he had left.

That was quite a story, painful as well because she couldn't possibly imagine what it would feel like to be abandoned by her family at all; it was troubling. Karin began to take pictures of him suddenly, there was something about that expression on his sleeping face that was fitting with the background; it was quite sad for some reason as well. After the third photo, she couldn't continue on doing so because no one was allowed to see such expression at all and it wouldn't be appropriate at all.

Quickly looking at all the photos, she deleted the ones she had taken of him and put the camera back on the small bag she was carrying, and began to lay down next to Toushiro. It was exactly like this that kept on making her feel that she could really trust the feelings that were growing for him, he made her feel wanted and needed because there was this trust between the two already. Unconsciously, his arm pulled her closer to him and she sighed simply at his comforting warmth. How long could they really be like this though?

As of yet, only Senna was the only one that knew about their secret romance, but the rest of the world did not know about it just yet. That would only bring problems from those girls that were in love with him or the guys that were in love with her, those who would simply oppose to their relationship just to make their lives hard. Though both were certain that the sentiments couldn't be lied to, they continued to grow and slowly they were being pulled together tightly by that red thread of fate; though it might be unrelated to their feelings.

"I think I love you…" she whispered at him, knowing that he wouldn't hear anything at all.

Though she didn't know, he had heard her whisper that and he felt content with it.

* * *

_Sorry for it being an extremely late update, but since 3rd term keeps me extremely busy already, it deems impossible for me to even sit down and write. Sighs...though most of the chapter was written a while back already. Also, noticed that there aren't many reviews, but I'm not here to please everyone at all. Sorry to disappoint. Anyway, not sure when I will update again, but rest assure that I will unless I get eaten alive by geography class and exams this upcoming month. That'll be a great story to tell for sure though, lol. I'm trying so hard not to make this story depressing at all--is so hard! Anyway, got piles of research to do for geography project. Thanks for the support everyone and the reviews, alerts...all of those things. _


	4. Declarations

**Disclaimer:** 'He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not...' Ah, I don't own Bleach!

* * *

+--Captive Orchid--+

"_Divine love is a sacred flower,_

_Which in its early bud is happiness and _

_In its full bloom is heaven." ~James Hervey _

+---+

+--Declaration--+

Later winter—

"…and so, not everything is about idealism or using the written rules." Kyoraku Shunsui stated, slamming the thick book he carried on the table; waking various sleepy faces up. "Is it really boring learning all of this? Truly that can't be true, rest assure that when you step out into the real world; there won't be manuals or books to guide you thru it."

The entire classroom groaned, except for a young man that simply stared at the man as he continued with his explanation to them. Toushiro shut his book as his turquoise eyes stared at the clock on the wall, in less than five minutes the class would be over along with the day. He needed some serious rest after an entire week accompanying that woman in long walks out in Seireitei; it wasn't like he was to blame her in the first place as he enjoyed her company. Besides, he had to watch out for her as of now they were attempting to establish their relationship into something more concrete.

That talk had been going around for a few days already, he hadn't been able to hide all of those feelings for her any longer, and after hearing her slight confession that one day by the river; it triggered the whole thing. Besides, many were beginning to spot them together on their usual outings to Seireitei or around Karakura, and since the town didn't hush up absolutely anything that dealt with the rich—there seriously was no telling when some outrageous gossip would began to flaunt on the local newspaper.

"Why don't we let Hitsugaya-san explain it in better terms?" A young woman stated, all turning to stare at him. At least he was paying close attention to that; else he would look like a complete idiot in front of them.

"Why should he explain it? He's the first of the class, there's no need to hear about the mighty and Supreme Being." Another girl snorted, cutting a glare at him. "It's always about him, Kyoraku-sensei, make someone else talk because it gets boring to have the show off always berate everything we say down."

"The real world doesn't wait for your answer, it works and works without a stop," Toushiro expressed, leaning forward on the table while his eyes glared back at her. "Fools don't necessarily make it in the real world, books only state the foundation to what awaits us all out there, but management isn't about using books to solve a problem. Management requires of bright and creative minds to be able to work out, or even better, make it much different than other theories from the past."

Everyone stayed silent until class was dismissed, everyone hated his guts for being smart or just hated his guts knowing that he already had a future built for him since he was born; but the world didn't particularly worked that way. Besides, staying alive required stepping onto others just to accomplish what you want in life, if everyone was smart enough to understand that perhaps they wouldn't hate him as much.

"You look tired," Karin said as they met up at the small diner close to the school.

He grunted simply, as he chewed on his food. "It's nothing to worry about, really."

She rolled her eyes, refilling his tea cup. The evidence of his hard work was showing and paying off, she was highly aware that his degree was costing him a lot of energy and he was looking more tired lately. Perhaps cutting his hours that he had to take care of her would help; after all, most of her work was finished and only needed to find more family archives around her house.

"Fine, just don't overdo it alright." She smiled at him. "Besides, who else has to take care of me in the future? You know that a photographer doesn't exactly have a cheap life."

He cut her a look. "Mm, who said that I had to take care of you for the rest of your life? When did we establish an agreement?"

"Eh? Well, aren't you up for it? After all, my family would only accept our relationship if you promise that," she joked while he simply glared. Loving her so deeply like that was quite haunting, especially when she would pick on him regarding the future or about taking care of their children.

He didn't know how much longer he would last loving her so much like that, knowing that slowly he was being suffocating by those strong feelings; yet he didn't know that Karin was the same way. She couldn't stop herself from thinking about him, filling most of her thoughts revolving him like those silly high school girls that became obsessed, but it wasn't like she was obsessed just simply madly in love.

At nights she would have to sit there and laugh for being so foolish like that, acting like a high school girl wasn't even funny for her, but it had been so long since she had felt that way. As for Toushiro, all he could think about was her most of the time, though tried not to look as if he was in love in front of the others.

+---+

Hideaki looked up just as his grandson set foot inside the house, removing his shoes and walking off to his room like usual. The elderly man sighed simply, the boy studied way too much at times and he didn't get much rest either lately; there was something going on. Standing up, he made way to his room and have a talk with the boy because he wasn't going to accept the fact that he was tiring himself for no reason at all.

A person couldn't possibly spend their entire lifetime studying, life itself was a long lesson that didn't have text books or some study guide to follow; everything just simply managed to fall into place according to how one was prepared. Besides, Toushiro could never raise the grading scale barrier since he was already at the top of it and there was no way to surpass it.

As he walked, Hideaki recalled the young boy that used to run around the house freely. Being abandoned at a young age hadn't stopped him from trying to be happy; he was disappointed over his own son for abandoning the poor child and along with the mother too. People like that made him sick, besides no human could possibly be called one if they had the heart to abandon a small child.

Twenty five years ago, the barely six months old Hitsugaya Toushiro had been abandoned on a summer evening at the entrance of the Hitsugaya household with a small note simply saying _'take care of him for us.'_ Nothing more or less, since than he and his wife, Kimiko, had raised him to be a refined young man with manners and class. There was absolutely no telling where his genius genes had come from because his father was definitely not a smart man, so Hideaki wanted only the best for his one and only grandson.

He knocked on the shoji door, a soft 'enter' followed and the man entered as the white haired man sat on a mat with books spread around him, but he seemed to be focusing on something else.

"Do you have a minute?" He asked, watching those turquoise eyes glance at him with a very odd expression behind them.

"Please, take a seat Ojii-san." Toushiro replied with a monotone voice, his mind wrapped around other things.

The man took a seat in front of him, watching carefully as his turquoise shifted somewhere else and looked mildly lost. The poor boy wasn't very good at hiding most of his feelings that tended to mix so well with his facial expressions; that tended to be quite entertaining at times. Though, Toushiro had learned to hide most of his emotions that he knew well that people shouldn't see—only than was he able to evade most of the attention—though at home he wasn't so good with the charade.

"Mind if I ask why you have that odd facial expression?" Beating around the bush wasn't necessary; it only caused problems in the exchange of information between the two.

"No reason at all, can't a man be tired?" Toushiro grabbed one of his books and flipped through it. How hard was it really to hide his emotions entirely? Of course, he knew so well that at home none of it was easy like in public. "I'm not in drugs or anything of the sort, so kindly Ojii-san try not to pry into it with talks that you had with me when I was a high school kid."

Hideaki laughed at his unusual sense of humour, well maybe it lacked some comedic relief to it or something else, but the boy was truly easy to tease him.

"It's not exactly what I meant really, only that you look like a foolish boy in love." Toushiro's face paled…ah…so that was it. "You're truly too easy to read when it comes to that emotion, I've only seen it once, but not like this. Has Momo-chan returned to town or something?"

"It isn't that woman," he exclaimed, standing up and tossing his book aside. How many more times would that woman's name have to be spoken around him? "Hinamori isn't going to return as she's probably making it big somewhere in America, don't care either way."

Hideaki nodded. "Fine, then tell me who it is because she seems more special to you. I mean, a girl being able to make you look like a lost puppy truly is worth meeting."

"She isn't my girlfriend…actually I'm not even sure how to feel about it." Toushiro shook his head, trying to find a reason somewhere. "I suffocate when I'm around her, seeing her smile all the time…it's…I'm not even sure what it is."

"So your feelings are suffocating you, being with her makes you feel so stupid that you don't even know what to do with yourself?" The feelings were so familiar of course, any person that fell in love felt it differently, but sometimes most of the emotions matched. "Thinking about not knowing what you are truly is confusing."

Toushiro dropped on his futon, a silly grin on his face and his eyes twinkling. "She just makes me feel like a fool, confused and lost regarding my feelings for her."

"Reminds me of when I saw your grandmother," his grandfather recounted the story with small details. Toushiro didn't know what made him talk about it with him, his father didn't even exist to explain all of those things to him, but his grandfather was more like his father.

He couldn't think of something to say, the familiar feelings that the elderly man told were just about the same that continued to flow inside of him—so prude of him of course. Those many years ago the girl he thought he loved never made him feel like that, at least not the way that Karin made him feel; it was different of course.

Hideaki stood up from the floor, walking towards the closed door and stopped before actually leaving the room. He turned to look at his grandson as he continued to lie on the futon.

"Tell her how you truly feel, don't waste your time dwelling on thoughts that will truly be unnecessary to bear for you."

"Oh, thank you."

He heard his door shutting softly, maybe his grandfather was right about telling Karin how he truly felt about her—no woman had made him feel that way before. He picked up his phone, flipping thru several pictures on it and seeing that childish face of the woman he once loved. It had been almost ten years since he had felt that way about someone, he didn't even know what the hell those pictures had remained on his phone; even after so long they still remained there despite changing phones in numerous occasions.

Though it was hard to let it go, he pressed the 'delete' button on them.

Erasing the past would help him understand the present, dwelling about the past would not yield anything for the present and it was time to actually move on. He pressed the number keys on his phone quickly, typing out the message and clicked 'send'. As easy as that, Toushiro needed to finally rid of those troubling feelings that were starting to control him.

+---+

The phone on the small table lit up, almost falling from the edge as it began to vibrate and Karin caught it just in time. The screen was about the only light available in the room, as she squinted her eyes at the bluish light and read the text message quickly. Looking at the digital clock on the nightstand, she nodded her head in silence and shut her phone, and went to open the blinds of her room.

"It's not too late," she said to herself as she began to pull on a clean pair of skinny jeans and a plaid shirt.

Isshin looked up as he heard loud footsteps coming from the stairs, seeing his daughter skid to a stop while struggling to get inside her jacket and holding something on her mouth.

"What's going on?" He asked, putting aside the book that he was reading. "Going somewhere? Did my lovely daughter finally find a boyfriend? When do we meet—" His words were cut short

"Why do you always have to assume the wrong things?" She groaned and rolled her eyes, sitting by the door while pulling her shoes on. "I'm going out, _ittekimasu_."

Karin practically ran down the street to catch the bus in order to go to the square plaza, she was hoping that there wouldn't so much traffic as it was a Friday afternoon; mostly everyone travelled or were in a rush to get home. Thankfully the bus came just in time, there weren't many on and it was going to be easy to get there in time. Her heart pounded; pulling out her cell phone she read the message again.

_I need to speak with you about something important, meet me in an hour in the square plaza._

Something about it seemed odd and quite strange, but no one should think much about it. What was so important that he had to call her out like that though? She hadn't done anything wrong as of recently—she hadn't asked him to accompany her to photo sessions out in the forest or town—so what could be the reason? The more she thought about it, the more Karin began to theorize about and none of them sounded any good at all.

'He can't say that we shouldn't continue this, would he?' She thought to herself, practically leaning against her seat to think. 'No, it doesn't sound right at all…but what is it? Damn it!'

Though that was probably way off and she was thinking far into it, maybe there needed to be an explanation and hear everything that needed to be said to clear the subject; after all, he wouldn't suddenly drop her off somewhere just like that. No, that was just absurd because she knew that Toushiro loved her just as she loved him—_Get yourself together Kurosaki!_

At the stop, the young woman practically ran out of the bus and towards the plaza to get there in time. Sometimes she wondered why her home was so far away from the downtown area of Karakura.

On the fountain, her dark eyes spotted his white hair amongst the crowd that gathered there on the fine afternoon. Immediately his turquoise eyes shot up to look at her, they were already smiling against her own and he stood while dusting his jeans.

"Sorry for calling out like that," he looked mildly sincere; in fact she could've sworn it was just simply an excuse.

"Ah, I was just doing some…work." It was a lie of course; she would've come whether she was holding a print on her hands or a spoon. "So, what is it that you need to tell me that's—oh so important?"

Toushiro looked at her face, it looked completely calm for someone who was about to hear his profession of love and what not—maybe he was just thinking too much on it already. _What a damn idiot_. Where to begin? Kurosaki Karin was nowhere near being a woman of class, one that liked mushy love stories or even liked flowers—another reason why he never acted like he was really in love with her. _You're such a comedic fellow_.

"Let's take a walk, come on," he grabbed her hand, but she pulled back. His turquoise eyes stared at the much serious expression on Karin's face.

"Usually stuff like this doesn't piss me off, but somehow the display of your odd behaviour is actually hitting the nerve." That same cold tone that he had heard before made him shiver; it had been practically months since she had spoken like that.

A sigh escaped him, maybe it was best to just spill it out without a pause or anything of the sort; he was sure that she was capable of understanding him completely without having it being told twice—he hoped dearly for it. Exhaling deep, the white haired man rumbled out his confession as she watched her look confused, frowning slightly while trying to comprehend as he spoke fast.

Karin couldn't comprehend a single thing; Toushiro's words seemed to be like a whisper as her mind attempted to process them properly. His lips moved accordingly, though it seemed that her ears had suddenly grown stuffy and couldn't really hear those words. His blabbering kept repeating her name and 'love'—what did that mean?

"Wait, what the hell are you talking about?" She asked deadpanned. Toushiro needed to breathe, but frowned at the lack of her attention span. It wasn't like he had spent hours in front of a mirror practicing for it, but that was hitting a nerve there.

"So I was just babbling like a fool for nothing?" He wanted to shout at the winds, curse the heavens above or something, but no. That would be so unwise, so he was going to repeat it carefully now. "Damn it, I think…no I know that…I love you." There, it was to the point now and very—sincere. At least he thought so.

"I…wait…what did you say?" Karin looked at him, but instead of a reply she felt his lips against her own.

Part of her mind was still thinking logically about what had just happen, had Toushiro confessed or what? Right, he had said that he loved her and looked so flustered, she wanted to laugh but managed to only wrap her arms around his neck. So, did it mean that he was all for herself? Or was there someone else willing to fight for him?

"What does this mean?" She asked breathlessly, her dark eyes staring deep at his. "Are we a couple?"

Toushiro closed his eyes, putting his forehead against hers and tried to think more logically. Truly feeling like a fool right about now seemed proper, yet that didn't seem the case at the moment. Those feelings were just far too strong to have for someone he barely knew, yet his heart would simply beat madly just by being near her. He kissed her again feeling like words wouldn't be able to make much sense at the moment; he was drowning on her mere presence, trying to comprehend his true feelings that didn't need to be understood any longer.

Karin began to grow hot suddenly, she was so focused on kissing him deeply as their tongues began to battle on the hot passionate kiss; they were forgetting that they were in public. Many passed and turned their heads as the couple continued kissing, some little kids giggled as their mothers dragged them away.

"We should probably stop," he pulled away suddenly, while red covered most of his face.

She touched her lips, a smile forming there. "Yeah, I will agree strongly on that."

He grunted, scratching his head while trying to regain some pragmatic logic back to his brain. He couldn't possibly go home without telling her something more concrete, and just as such he was going to say it.

"Tomorrow night I'll invite you to dinner at my house, if you have nothing to do that is." That sounded way too formal.

"Err, well there's nothing to do really," she tucked a piece of her hair back. "So, we are skipping many dates and you're going to introduce me to your family? That sounds way off there."

"We've been in many dates already,"

"That's true, but they're going to think that we've kept this for so long."

"No, we haven't kept anything from anyone at all. Besides, it's not our responsibility of telling anyone about everything we do in our lives." Toushiro had a point there.

Karin sighed. "Alright, but on the condition that I'm not changing how I usually dress."

Toushiro pulled her close to him again. "I never stated that you had to change yourself to be accepted."

Karin smiled simply, leaning her head against his strong chest and inhaling his scent deep. Even though it seemed that they were moving fast, she didn't felt the need to stop and think about it much. Surely she felt that she knew what she was doing and there was no way that anyone would be able to stop her, besides, she was a grown woman with a rather glamorous future ahead if her talent continued.

Holding hands, they walked towards the bus stop to get to their perspective homes and realize what they had just both proclaimed clearly between the two. Tomorrow and on, people would began to talk about them until some other couple would come out in the open; it was not like neither of them cared about anything in the first place.

"I love you so much, Hitsugaya Toushiro." She kissed him just as the bus stopped. "Take care of yourself."

He tried to small a little. "Yeah, you do the same for me."

* * *

_Truly sorry for the rather long delay. This semester is practically Hell due to the many reports and studying to do; its only getting harder to write something. Sighs, well hope everyone enjoys it and I'll try to update ASAP 'cos there's this long geography project that needs to be done along with a bunch of presentations for various classes. Thank you for those who continue to support the story, it really makes me happy and so glad. Please, please be patient with this story 'cos there's not enough time in the world to sit down and write (so wished). Thank you again! ~bleedingxinxspace_


	5. Innocence

**Disclaimer:** Mm, no need to repeat myself now after waiting so long to post something new. Sighs....on with the chapter.

* * *

+|--Captive Orchid--|+

"_Chastity, once lost, cannot be recalled; it goes only once."~Ovid _

+|Innocence|+

Spring—

The very mark of spring began, along with the anticipation of the end of term; everyone was preparing to take the final exams of the term and preparing for their usual long break. Though, none were in luck due to big projects due before the end of the term, but she couldn't quite concentrate fully on studying for one subject at all. Karin groaned silently, sitting at the empty table in the library while trying not to suddenly cry out of frustration or simply throwing all the textbooks aside. Besides, there were the final prints that she needed to submit before the end of the month; since she was actually almost done.

"Man, why in the hell do exams have to exist?" Senna settled in her table, dropping all the books that she had to study from.

"Life's burden," she answered plainly, not bothering to look up from her own book. "It's been a while since I've last seen you."

The young woman pouted, pulling the book on top of the pile and sighing. "You've been too busy with your boyfriend, and I've been too busy with stuff."

"Aw, come, don't do that," that was one of the things that annoyed her; having someone pull the guilty trip and making her feel bad.

Senna looked up, smirking knowing that she had succeed on that guilty trip, but she couldn't really blame her friend for doing something like that. From the looks of it, a lot of girls were in love with Hitsugaya Toushiro now more than ever since he was now dating her best friend—how juicy. Aside from it, things seemed to be looking well for the two since Senna wasn't the type to let good gossip slip away, but she couldn't quite tell everyone about their close relationship and how long they had actually known each other.

"I was only joking," she laughed. "I mean, personally I could not blame you for wanting to be with a hot piece of meat like Hitsugaya-san. Besides, I've had enough of you for a while."

The dark haired young woman scowled. "Thanks, that makes me feel better now you idiot."

"It's my job after all, but you better make something good happen before some other chick begins to obsess over him." Even though the guy seemed remarkably dense, she knew that he wouldn't even know about the many girls that watched him carefully or ogled him while he passed, but again, she couldn't blame them for it.

He was thought of as the handsome prince, very fashionable and the intellect kind of guy that any girl would want but obviously could not have since he was taken. Surely, she still had to congratulate Karin for grabbing his attention, but also because she deserved to have a slightly better life now that she was settling down back home.

Silence suddenly fell, the rustling of the pages turning and the constant clicking of keyboard keys was beginning to be slightly solemn, but neither young woman attempted to break it since studying had to be done in the first place. Though, Karin wasn't fully concentrating on studying alone, since tonight she was going on a date with her boyfriend and she was exceptionally nervous for it. Truly, she wasn't an experience dater or a frequent one at that, maybe they did spent a lot of time together, but not in that sort of way where she had to constantly be worrying about having her hair properly in place or doing something gross—simply just accompanying each other was enough.

Toushiro wasn't big on going out to dinners or going to the movies, rather, he enjoyed walking around with her while she ranted frantically about something regarding photography or her father—she believed it was becoming quite a habit these days. He listened mostly, grunted for effect and commented when he felt the need to do so, but she liked it that way. Somehow, both felt there was no need to have romantic dinners or going out to theme parks like all the other couples in the world, simply sharing each other's company was enough for them. Both felt comfortable with each other already, almost like they had known each other from a very long time ago, so there was no need for it.

Needless to say, Karin was baffled with figuring that one out alone, but there was nothing that could be done with that one in the first place. Taking final notes, she shut off her books and settled them inside her school bag.

"I have to get going now," Karin stood and strapped her bag over her shoulder. "Promise that this weekend I'll try to hang out with you."

Senna looked up. "Ah, no need to worry about it really. I don't want to be horrible, but I have to work on my final piece for the fashion show at the end of the month."

"Oh, I see." Clearly dejected, she couldn't really oppose to it. "Well, that's too bad then, so guess maybe another time."

"Sure, you'll have to give me the juicy details of your hot relationship." She smiled while her friend rolled her eyes.

"I supposed I owe you that much, so see you later." Karin waved at her and left quickly.

Senna sighed, she shouldn't have lied so easily like that, but she needed for her to feel more confident about her relationship and spend more time now that he was close to graduating next semester. Maybe this spring something good would happen to her long time friend, hopefully.

Fidgeting was not going to do absolutely anything at all, why was he acting nervous in the first place? Why had he wasted time getting ready today for? There was no necessity to make sure his attire was in perfect place or even his hair—it seemed completely useless now as he stared simply out the window and waited for his girlfriend to arrive soon. Toushiro sighed, this display of behaviour was quite foolish knowing that there was no need to worry over something that seemed silly, but it was important since their relationship began.

Of course, there hadn't been enough time to follow the stages of dating at all, not when his girlfriend wasn't the normal type of girl. She hated flowers and chocolates, which he wasn't complaining about at all, but she did like going around with him in tow while she was doing some project. The white haired man did not know why he was intrigued by her odd behaviour, the sometimes childish ways that she displayed from time to time, but he couldn't stop and look away from her when Karin was around. She had become the focal point of his attention, sometimes he found it quite impossible to concentrate while doing a blue print or studying—not that he was actually neglecting them.

Though, he was nearing graduation soon, slowly their time together was growing thin since she was almost nearing that stage as well. He missed her laugh while he would sit in silence inside his room—she was becoming an important presence in his life. Toushiro found himself sighing deeply at that, how frustrating it was to fall in love again; much deeper than ever before.

"I hope you aren't thinking too hard about me," her voice was soft against his hear, her breath tickling him.

"More about leaving," his cool reply was met with a smirk against his neck.

"Funny, I was thinking about not coming," Karin parted from him and took a seat beside him. "You seem frustrated, is something wrong?"

He stared at her dark eyes, she was observant like always and could see through him at times; it was quite scary too. Toushiro shook his head, maybe he was a bit tired, but nothing to really get frustrated about profoundly. Well, he thought so.

"Nothing at all," he answered lamely, but he did not feel like talking much tonight. "What about you? Are you almost done with everything?"

She shrugged. "I'm getting by, thanks to your help." Karin smiled, getting closer to him and snaking her arms around his neck and pulling him for a kiss.

They weren't that shy anymore regarding public affection, kissing and holding hands was about it, but when they were alone things would get slightly more serious. Karin wasn't the gentle maiden or shy about it, despite her lack of experience Toushiro wouldn't tell anyway; they were both inexperience people in love. Which worked fine with both of them, but they couldn't simply let their heated libido take them farther than they should.

"Mm, that makes me feel better," she smiled and placed small kisses at the side of his face.

"Guess it does," he had to agree with her, he gave her one last kiss and pulled away. "We should order something to eat and leave."

She frowned, he was always rushing around, but people were beginning to stare like always. "Sure."

Dinner was a very simple one; neither enjoyed anything fancy, but only their company while sharing the same table. Toushiro caught her staring at him a few times, Karin would blush slightly and scowled while looking away; it was somewhat awkward though. He remembered so long ago that one girl that would giggle, he was the one to scowl and groan silently at the silly advances of the girl—that had been quite strange now. Except, he did not want to recall those old memories at least not when he was with her, Karin was special to him in many ways and perhaps more than she would ever know.

Time meant nothing when it came to love, whether it was true love or a simple attraction, love knew no time at all. Surely, it would end at some point or the flame would simply start to fade away, but sometimes it did not take a person too long to fall in love. The concept was bizarre to think about surely, he wouldn't had imagined to fall too deep into her, his heart yearning for her to return the same feelings or even wanting to part from her. Karin seemed to have fit right into his heart, building a large place for herself without asking; destiny perhaps.

He stared at her momentarily, trying to find something that did not fit him at all, but it was difficult to differentiate anything. She fit perfectly with him, an almost perfect match to the lopsided part of life. There was nothing to criticize about, nothing to complain if he were to count the many times they've argued already, though he couldn't quite say that she fit perfectly because there was nothing such as perfect—they got along well enough.

"We should get going, I'm stuffed," Karin jugged her drink and slammed the glass on the table.

"Your manners are quite frightening at times," Toushiro stood up, pulling her chair as she stood up.

"Well, you are the gentlemen and I'm the uncivilized woman, it's a balance between us." Maybe that hadn't sounded right, but he grunted simply as they exited the small diner and into the cool night.

The sky was already painted black, the clouds hung lowly as rain seemed to be making its way for the night or perhaps until tomorrow, but it kept the weather cool. Neither liked the heat, mainly Toushiro, he disliked it greatly for some unknown reason, but he would have to tolerate the hot summer days once they would come. She grabbed his hand as they walked down the street; people were still busily walking in the streets at night—Karakura was actually like that most of the time.

Karin wouldn't have imagined living like she was right now, holding hands with her boyfriend and walking in the street this way; she had actually been thinking about that for quite some time already. What would life been like if she hadn't returned to Japan at all? Those lonely nights spent in the apartment, hearing the neighbours making too much noise, studying away—perhaps that seemed to stretch out dramatically, but it would be as such.

She didn't have many friends to begin with; school kept her quite busy along with soccer, but soon the sport began to feel boring and lonesome. Being compare to a masculine woman had greatly annoyed her, girls would assume she slept with all the guys in the soccer team or some ridiculous story was made up; so Fridays would remain silent inside her room. No, the past was already in the past, the present was here walking side by side with a man that cared for her greatly.

Did she actually deserve such love though? Toushiro was cold to everyone else, ignoring them half the time and acting very serious. With her, he was quite different; much gentle and warm but maybe because she was dating him now. He was quite serious about their relationship though, always trying his best to listen to her demands carefully and keeping her company when she needed—how lucky was she? Of course, other girls were beginning to take notice of it and would throw glares at her, but she wasn't the one to care about public opinions much.

They stopped suddenly in the park, Toushiro turned and stared at her briefly, staring at those dark eyes beneath the lights of the park and trying to think of something to say. Again, words were useless between the two at times. He pulled his girlfriend for a hug instead, there was this feeling within him that was annoying him greatly almost like she would leave him. Karin breathed in his scent, trying to control herself like any other day before doing something drastic, but she felt his lips against hers suddenly.

He kissed her out of instinct, this dread feeling gnawing at him for some reason, but he tried not to put those emotions into their kiss. She pressed herself against him, kissing him fiercely for acting so cool about it and feeling like he was hiding something. Slowly it began, softly and gentle at first turning into a swirl of heated lips meshing together in a moment of passion.

He groaned as their tongues began a fierce battle, both with a huge pride hanging at the top of their heads making them battle against each other, none wanted to give the other the win on this one. Of course, Toushiro was impressed with her competitive spirit, her hands grabbed the back of nape of his neck and he felt her tug at his hair there.

Karin would become annoyed, he fought greatly against her and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a win. Though, she knew quite well that sometimes he just had to take it the win and have it over with. He pulled away suddenly though, staring around them and turning to face her.

"Can I invite my girlfriend to my house for tea?" It seemed like any blasé question, but she simply gawked at him for it.

"What kind of question is that?" The question seemed too much like a social visit only, which annoyed her greatly. He stared at her, until she sighed. "That was completely ridiculous, but I'm not going to decline it."

"I was hoping for such answer, let's go then," Toushiro dragged her behind him, holding her hand tightly against his.

Toushiro felt possessed with this feeling of drowning upon her, the way she clung to him those many times before was driving him mad with want, with a need to fall upon something with her in arms. That had been quite the lame invitation, but it was about the only thought that crossed his mind. He couldn't deny that she had felt the same way, Karin couldn't quite easily hide her desire as well as he could—when had become so fixated upon her to feel this way? Logical thinking would not suffice for this one.

An answer wouldn't exist; words would never be able to explain it properly because there was this lingering confusion as well, it was an impulse of sorts. Karin stared at his back simply, unable to find words to speak or a question to express, simply because there was this sudden curiosity. His white hair shone strangely beneath the street lights, sucking the orange hues of it and it reflected it quite strange too, but why in the hell was she paying attention to that?

His home came into view, even as she had seen it many times, Karin had a difficult time accepting it; the house was exceptionally huge. That was hard to believe that he actually lived in such house, let alone, being the future owner of the large state traditional home. Actually, the house fit perfectly with the family since she knew that his grandparents were still trying to keep the traditional home that seemed to have passed down to the family for generations.

"Watch your step, the house is dark at this time of night," he opened the gate and allowed her inside.

There were no lights inside the place, even the streetlights seemed unable to cross the thick walls around the manor house; it looked intimidating for some reason. He slid the door opened, finding it troublesome to turn on the lights as their footsteps invaded that silence that had filled the rooms before. His grandparents had left early in the day for a trip in Hokkaido; they would be back in a week's time and leaving him behind due to school.

Toushiro hadn't expected to drag her to his room, shutting the door tightly and standing there in silence. None of it had made sense at all, fear suddenly crept up to him knowing that this looked horribly wrong, but she wasn't running away or kicking him—yet. Karin simply stood there, awkwardly staring at his silhouette, but she couldn't think of something proper to say.

"I'll make some tea," he said suddenly, disappearing out of his room and into the halls. His footsteps were the only thing that could be heard in the silence.

She stood there, her eyes strained to see what his room looked like; it was actually hard to completely see something clearly. Though, it was a simple room with a large mattress in the middle, a desk on the far side with a computer on top while on a corner laid a large pile of books—there wasn't much to it. Sighing simply, Karin took a seat on the computer chair and tried to erase all those dirty thoughts that were beginning to cross her mind. It wasn't long before he returned, shutting the door and removing his jacket; this was uncomfortable.

"So, what are we doing?" She asked him, curious like always.

"Don't know," he for the first time felt completely unease with the lack of thoughts. "Play cards perhaps?"

"Are we fifty year old grandparents already," she scowled, but laughed softly. "You can't possibly be nervous about me being inside your room." She should actually be asking herself that question.

"More than I should be actually, it's a foreign emotion to process at the time being." At least Toushiro was answering with proper terms. "Nevertheless, that is something that shouldn't be denied." He stood there, seeing her shoulders move as she sighed deeply.

They sat there in complete silence for what felt hours, none daring to speak for a moment until the sound of the kettle began to fill the empty space. Footsteps crossed, a door opened and quickly the noise was over with, but both knew that the hot water would have no purpose for the night at all. Not when it had been the point of this, not when innocence would be held tightly against their chest, gripping it with such force that would be unable to detach itself from them. That boundary slowly dissolved, easily ripped into shreds with lust and want tearing it apart with a strong force.

Clothing rained down as lips sought each other through the darkness, her hands gripped tightly on the offending material of his t-shirt as he peeled away her jacket, tossing it aside with great force. She groaned as his hand roamed around her body, much like he was doing while she did the same—it felt quite numbing feeling this way.

Toushiro kissed her neck, getting tired of foreplay already since Karin was making quick advances already; it was quite bold to do something like this when it hadn't been planned in the first place. His piercing eyes looked feral in the night, a darker colour much like hers that were simply dark; the faint light wasn't doing any good at all. She moaned softly as he bit her at the tender skin on her neck, she should be angry at the moment knowing that it would leave a mark, but her brain wasn't working well at all.

Soon, things advanced quicker than expected as bodies lay in the large bed; he stood atop her and tried to find a reason to stop himself from doing this but she wasn't denying him as she pulled him down to her again. She could not stop from wanting him now, things happened for a reason and she was sure that this would be a good thing. Despite whatever was at the back of her mind, Karin wanted to bury herself deep with Toushiro, have him embrace her entirely until not knowing where neither began.

It was the rush of the tidal wave that both had been anticipating for so long, the adrenaline that surged with the fear and the excitement was crushing them both. The weight of that feeling was heavy, she could not breath or think at all—it could not compare to how it had felt the first time it had happened. It had been so gentle, almost like a breeze in a summer day, but now it felt like a clash of thunder atop the sky that caused chills to run down her spine.

Logical thoughts or anything remotely concrete was a complete mess inside his head, like staring up at the blearing sun above and unable to see anything clearly, it was quite an unimaginable feeling swelling deep somewhere becoming rapid, heavily as air was beginning to contract against the tight feeling in the lungs; it felt like drowning. The little lights popping, mind not having any train of thoughts at all—both wanted to scream at the very fierce sensation.

She fought greatly against this feeling, trying not to scream or make any noise, but she could not hold the moan at the back of her throat—Karin moaned loudly against Toushiro's ear. Holding onto him was about the only thing that could be done without falling apart, trying reverently to stay in reality before crossing boundaries that would make it unable to take it back.

His head was close to her shoulder, he bit the pillow to prevent himself from any noise because the house was extremely thin. Toushiro had gripped the sheets too tightly, his fingers felt numb as her screams of pleasure filled his stuffy ears. Karin's fingers were practically digging at the skin on his back.

Toushiro couldn't hold his weight, he fell on top of her and laid there for a long time not knowing what to say, what to think at all; it had been too much for one night. Karin felt lightweight now—she tried to recall upon those faint memories of the first time she had done this, though those old feelings had faded away. All those memories had been replaced with the sensations of tonight, she would have never thought about sleeping with her boyfriend this quick; how would she explain it tomorrow? Better yet, how would she face him?

He pushed himself away from her, his body was sticky with sweat and he tried to regain some thoughts back into his head—it felt quite empty at the moment. Slowly, he shifted on the bed, pulling the covers up and attempted to regain some kind of sense into his head already. This was exactly what he hadn't expected to happen suddenly, their relationship was short in a matter of speaking and he had been assured that she would've fought him off; instead she had wanted the same thing.

Unknowingly, Toushiro knew that he had opened a door and cross it, being locked inside whatever place he had entered. As of now, he knew that there was no other way to leave her, tasting it hadn't been part of the night together; especially when they had known each other for a while. Though, as Karin wrapped her arms around him, there was no other way but to accept what had happened and hope for the best tomorrow.

"I have no regrets," her voice was below a whisper, much too silent.

"Never stated that there had to be," he answered solemnly, pulling her close.

Karin sighed, the feeling had been overwhelming, but she felt different unlike the first time she had done this all those years ago. A blush suddenly appeared on her face, why was she thinking back upon that useless path that meant nothing at the moment for? All she knew was that things would never be the same way again, but what about all those people that slept together on the first date? Though, she snuggled close and closed her eyes—tomorrow was going to be a different story. Toushiro sighed softly, turning to his side while holding her still and closed his eyes as well—it was tiring trying to think about tomorrow.

* * *

_A/N: I apologize greatly for the long wait, but truly I'm starting to lose interest on this story and might actually discontinue the story due to it; though as shameless as I feel about this, I shall try to finish it before I start another story. Sighs, school is draining me!!! Anyway, hope that this story gets more support so I can actually finish it and not quit; which is not something I like to do. Anyway, thanks for reading, for the wonderful and supportive reviews to all. Hopefully I'll start on the next chapter soon, Hinamori is probably going to make her appearance--how would that go? Plus, gotta get around about the Hinamori/Hitsugaya past. Thanks for reading--again!_ ~bleedingxinspace


	6. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Hey there guys, well sorry that this isn't an update of any sort, except for an author's note. I'm still alive (if anyone cares), but I've been taking a long break from FF for the sake of savouring my few weeks off school. I'm working earnestly with a new chapter for this story, but its difficult to pick up the pace again and since I only have about a week left before going back to school, guess I should say that the new chapter must be ready by next week. My deepest apologies for keeping you, my lovely readers, waiting patiently or impatiently for me to update this story. I must say that a decision had come up previously, I wanted to quit this story entirely, but started thinking that it is not entirely my style to leave things in midway; which lead me to get my ass in gear and I've re-read my story probably 10 times already to pick up a new development in the story.

So, if you are still following this story, I ask of you to be patient with me and don't quit on me. Sincerely, third semester was harsh, tiresome and exceptionally disappointing with problems that suddenly arose in the midst of college girls acting like immature losers stuck in middle school (hopefully I'm not offending you at all, its not my intention to do so). Aside from that unnecessary drama from those girls in my classroom, school just needed my attention nearly 24/7 in endangerment of failing Accounting! And, some of you might say 'Why in the hell do I care about that?', 'This isn't a place to make it your personal blog!'...whatever else you might say, but just needed to put it up front to be honest with everyone. But, guess I should say that that's besides the point. Repeating myself again, the new chapter will perhaps be short and guess it will go into a different direction instead of the original plot I had planned out.

A few stuff that you'll read on the newest chapter: Rukia and Ichigo are in town and the petite fiery woman (portrayed differently in this story obviously!) will in for a surprise, Toushiro is visiting the Kurosaki home for the first time. How will our favourite (at least my personal favourite) older brother Ichigo take it?

Hope you guys still stick with me. Not sure how many more chapters I'll publish in order to complete the story, but rest to be sure it'll be a long while until there'll be updates again though. *bows* Apologies again for the long wait, but please wait a little more!

Thank you,

~bleedingxinxspace

P.S.- This annoying note (take notice that I dislike putting this individually!) will be replaced with the new chapter, so please keep your eyes open for it being changed to a chapter.


	7. Outcome

**Disclaimer:** Nope...still don't own it! *cries*

* * *

+|Captive Orchid|+

+|Outcome|+

"_I feel fine and I feel good, _

_I'm feeling like I never should." _

Spring—

Dew glazed the early morning grass on the backyard; the swirls of pale colours on the horizon greeted her as limbs stretched out the sleep. How long had it been since she had slept so well? Karin stood in front of her window, staring at the pale sky and moving her neck from side to side. Dark eyes stared vividly, wide open as if she had enough sleep for the day.

The term had ended after finals were done, much to anyone's dismay, finding them quite tiring and long; but thankfully their break had begun. All of her friends—at least the few people that which she spoke to had made plans. The sandy beaches, blaring sun, high mountains…the endless list of possible vacation activities and places. Though, opting for a more quite and less fun vacation, the dark haired woman had denied various invitations to travel to Hokkaido for a break on the sunny beaches there.

There was not much to complain about, Isshin and Masaki had taken a trip to Sapporo after a few of their colleagues had insisted on them taking a few days off work; which had worked quite wonderfully. The couple had arrived home, dinner had been fixed and quickly they had packed. Her father had insisted on sending her to her twin's house, but the young woman had refused entirely saying that she couldn't invade the privacy of her newlywed sister; plus having to put up with the awkward atmosphere around—there was no way she would go.

Instead, her mother called her brother, who had been in Seireitei for three days already for work from Tokyo and had told him to come home. Karin had argued about being treated like a little girl, but they had insisted on keeping her safe with Ichigo coming home instead.

"Fine, damn it, do whatever you want." She had agreed—partially.

Ichigo had come home along with his girlfriend; the two usually travelled together in various occasions given that they worked in the same place and were studying the same thing. Besides, the two were practically inseparable, much to Karin's own disgust, but it wasn't like she didn't like her. The eldest Kurosaki sibling had been dating the dotting and respectful Kuchiki Rukia, who was known because her brother was the director of some financial business—she wasn't well aware of the famous faces in town at all or cared to know about them.

Rukia was quite amazing, a girl with backbone, she didn't allow anyone to make fun of her or disrespect her in any form; which Karin admired greatly. Besides, she kept her older brother in place and seemed like both cared about each other greatly.

"Good morning, Karin," Rukia greeted her as the young woman walked in, dressed shorts and a t-shirt still.

"Ah, morning, where's Ichi-nii?" The orange haired man was nowhere in sight.

The dark haired petite woman served coffee and took a seat on the square wooden table.

"He's gone to work already; he's got a lot of research to do in order to complete his summer classes." She said, chewing on some rice.

"Oh, right; forgot about that," she took her seat and drank the juice that was set already.

Ichigo had been quite the hellion during his high school years, though despite being a 'troubled' teenager he was smart—that was a subject that had been a debate between all his school friends and the bothersome neighbours. No one would believe that he would attend Tokyo University, not in anyone's imagination, but indeed the poor guy was attending the best school in the country.

Though, the teenager hadn't decided upon following a career in the medical field, but prompted on studying business instead. Many children did follow the same career paths as their parents, except that their parents were not pushing them to study something that deal with pharmaceuticals or diseases. Thankfully they had a choice.

So, her older brother had decided on taking summer classes since he started collage, with a purpose of finishing school quicker since he had taken some time off to sort out his own head—according to what he had said. Karin hadn't understood her brother well all those years ago, mainly since she lived in England and did not call in a regular basis.

"Do you have any plans for today?" The petite woman asked, wiping the corners of her mouth.

"Mm, well…not really," she answered, pushing her empty plate. "Did you need to go somewhere?"

Rukia looked at the clock hanging on the wall, it was almost time for her appointment with the doctor and needed to get ready, but she wanted someone to go with her. Ichigo had promised to go since he was going to take a break; sadly work suddenly called and needed him to get there. A soft sighed escaped her.

"Actually, would you mind coming to the doctor with me?"

"Sure just let me hit the shower, didn't really take one last night," Karin smirked, scratching her head and standing up.

She knew that there was something obviously going on, the couple had left yesterday quite early and did not return until late at night. Rukia hadn't looked so well in recent days, looking slightly pale and seemed to be throwing up; Karin knew that there was something strange about that since she had witnessed it quite a few times while in England. Except, she hadn't made a single comment as of yet—until things were proven.

The sun bathed the two women as they stepped out, locking the door securely, they took off towards the train station. Karakura was never safe with any personal information, it wasn't due to the whole privacy between patient and doctor, but some nurses were quite the nosy people. The dark haired woman did not want to risk exposure of whatever was to be announced to her, clearly of course because there seemed to be a vague idea inside her brain, but her boyfriend had insisted diligently about going to the doctor to make sure it was true.

"So, how's Hitsugaya-san?" The silence had become a little too heavy, which made Rukia think instead of trying to do the opposite.

"Fine, working with his grandfather," Karin answered, tucking part of her bangs back. "I've invited him for dinner tonight; I hope that's not an inconvenience for you."

The petite woman laughed as the sun hid beneath a thick white cloud.

"Of course, you know that I don't mind it," the station came to view as the two walked, talking about Karin's boyfriend.

The family minded their own business, though they had met him in a more personal level since she was dating and everyone knew not to press the subject. Ichigo had been the one that played the 'overprotective' brother part, stating clearly everything that could have been said and Toushiro had taken note of it. Karin was sure that things were working smoothly between the two, despite that awkward few days in which they didn't see each other after that night.

Though, despite already meeting him already and talking to him personally, the family had not invited him to dinner just yet. Mainly since Isshin and Masaki had been busy in recent weeks, plus Karin wanted to wait until their work wouldn't interrupt their dinner.

"He's really nice though," Rukia commented after a long pause. "He treats you well and is caring, that's always nice."

The dark haired young woman blushed. "Mm…err…thanks I think."

They chatted a bit more, talking about the plans that Ichigo had about moving back in town, but in a separate house in the quiet parts of Karakura, mainly because they had gotten job offers in Seireitei. That was great news, Isshin and Masaki still hadn't known that, Rukia asked of her to keep it a secret—for the time being.

It was a medium size building, inside was quite, various women were there with huge stomachs, but Rukia walked along without taken notice of them as Karin simply went silent. The receptionist was already making the announcement of the arrival of the next patient, thanks to Rukia's influences she had managed to get a private doctor. In Karakura things like privacy wasn't obeyed at all, things always ended up in the gossip columns of the newspaper or old women would announce it in open air; which Karin disliked greatly.

"Ah, Karin-chan," a red headed woman appeared, wearing a white lab coat above a light blue frilly shirt and a tanned skirt. "It is you, what brings you here?"

The young woman tried to recall her, six years away had cause temporary memory loss, but she knew the woman standing there smiling at her kindly. Inoue Orihime had been her brother's school friend, a kind young girl who had lost her brother previous to them meeting in school and was fond of Ichigo.

"Ah, you're Inoue-san. I…mm…just here…to…." In truth she didn't even know what she was doing here.

The woman stared at Rukia, smiling endearingly as she pulled the petite woman into a hug.

"Rukia-chan, you're just in time." Inoue Orihime led them to the office, completely forgetting about Karin; which in truth had been fine by her.

"I think I'll wait outside, Rukia-nee." She shut the door before allowing her to answer.

How strange it felt to be there at the moment. Except, Karin began to think about tonight—Toushiro had agreed to come to dinner despite her parents not being there, but he said that he would join them again for dinner later when time allowed them to meet. At least, he wasn't the type of guy who would be scared to meet the parents of the girlfriend, the family that would either accept him or hate him, but her boyfriend was exceedingly confident.

"It's going to be a long night for sure," she muttered to herself as she leaned her head back.

* * *

"Toushiro, what are you doing dear?" Kimiko walked into his bedroom, bringing the clean clothes that had been left out.

"Nothing in particular," he answered, rolling between his bookshelf and his desk.

The elderly woman nodded silently, setting the folded clothes on his bed and walking towards the shoji doors and opening them. Sometimes the boy seemed too apathetic, silent alone in his room with no air; undoubtedly she worried about him at times. Though, avoiding commentary about it, she let the light inside as it was still early in the day and he needed to breath the spring air before fall would come and whisk it away.

The white haired man typed quickly, writing the key points needed for the report and it did not take a lot of thinking. He felt the presence of his grandmother still as she had opened the shoji doors, allowing the light to swallow most of the semi-darkness inside the room and the cool spring breeze entered without permission. He had made arrangements of having dinner delivered home for tonight; his grandmother needed a break from cooking since the maid didn't really come because there really was no need to.

Hideaki had made the point that despite them being old, there was no need to hire someone for the sake of cleaning the house thoroughly every day; which he couldn't deny it was true. Toushiro went to school almost all day, his grandfather worked most of the day as well while his grandmother spent her day with an old friend in a flower shop, while helping doing arrangements since she had training in _ikebana_*.

"You are not going to be late, are you?" Kimiko asked after a long silence, standing by the door.

"Can't be sure about that, I'll call to let you know though," Toushiro answered, typing quickly again then stopping momentarily to look at his grandmother. "I'll try not to be late though, promise." He smiled kindly at her.

Kimiko was surprised at how much her grandson had changed in so little time, smiling often and being less sheltered—she was grateful towards the young Kurosaki girl for coming into his life. There was no longer some kind of resentment hooding his turquoise eyes, instead a flame was set ablaze, and scorching vibrantly that had been there before, but more dazzling than ever.

The changes were accepted by her and her husband, they were happy that their only grandson was going strong for a girl. In truth, after meeting the special young woman there had been something about her that she and her husband liked, even though they hadn't known her well enough before; Karin was a great woman with a bright future ahead.

"Don't worry, your grandfather is visiting Ukitake-san; he's got a new manuscript that wants some reviewing," the elderly woman said, walking over to where he sat and patted his shoulder. "Make sure you behave though, but you're always on your best behaviour anyway."

Toushiro grinned and returned back to work, the report was to be done before leaving for his girlfriend's house and there was still other work to do. Despite college being done for a while, working for the company of his grandfather was hard, taking over various projects that got entrusted to him. Besides, training to take over in the future had begun many years ago; small tasks had been given to him at an early age, but slowly the difficulty began to rise like growing up.

As Kimiko excited, the man stood up from the chair and ran a hand through his matted white hair. Taking a seat on the porch, the sun warmed his alabaster skin and highlighted his eyes; the garden was well kept as he stared at it to relax. A few butterflies stood atop the tall flowers, tasting the nectar that they produced while their legs would be coated with pollen while the fish on the pond popped their heads slightly to eat the food that had perhaps been given to them a while ago.

Karin had mentioned that her parents were away for a few days, which prompted them to call upon her older brother to come and stay with her. He recalled the way in which she frowned quite heavily, eyes hooded over and her fist shaking in mid air; it had been comical until she glared at him. Kurosaki Ichigo had brought his girlfriend along with him, he guessed that he was living with her now and had decided to invite her over as well.

That part he did not mind, only that after their small meeting a while back, having to face her older brother would come in difficult terms—the orange haired man wasn't the one to fear, but not to be taken lightly. After the considerate warning or more like a threat, Toushiro knew that the man did not like for anyone to treat his little sisters badly; much less Karin since she was the only one living in the house still.

"He's not that bad; just an idiot brother who cares deeply about me," the young woman had smiled, staring at the back of her brother that night with some deep admiration.

"I'm sure," he had answered apathetically, sighing quite heavily.

The sibling relationships were a concept difficult to understand though; being an only child made it quite hard to imagine what it would've been like having a sibling. Frankly, he did not understand in absolute the concept of a mother and father, hence he did not have any or even knew them. Bothering asking about them was troublesome; the few things that his grandparents would only mention were that they were irresponsible and beings that should not be accounted for—a harsh reality it seemed there.

They made sure to keep everything about them locked up in a secret box, which was fine because knowing parents that had abandoned him just like that did not deserved to be taken into consideration in the first place. He had called Shiba Kaien a brother when he had been small, who would've thought that he was related to Karin, but Shiba had been the only brotherly figure he had known all his life.

They weren't close, he only picked on him about being a small kid despite their three year difference in age, but Toushiro disliked being treated like a small child. Going to baseball games, playing soccer or other games had been the experience of the small childhood he had before discovering the huge library downtown. After that, things went a little south since Shiba oftentimes changed houses like he changed socks due to his parents, but guess their relationship wasn't as close to be called a sibling relationship.

Unlike Karin, who had mentioned how her brother taught her how to play soccer, throw a punch, study a little and be strong—things he hadn't learned from someone else. Ichigo had taught her values about life, the harsh things about the world, being liked or disliked, showing respect…things that Toushiro had learned on his own. Sure, his grandfather would teach him things like that, but not in the same way as siblings taught each other.

Thinking further, he lost himself into his own thoughts and stayed there, enjoying the spring breeze before returning back to work. Reviewing reports of sales, imports and exports seemed to make him tired of hearing things like that, but the company needed a report of all that piled in one document.

Time slipped away fast, noon became four in the afternoon and he stood up. Hitting the print button, Toushiro left the report to print while getting a shower. Kimiko had been nice enough as to prepare a bath; he thanked her while going to take his much anticipated bath. Practicing karate early in the morning prepared the mind for a long day; it had been the habit since he had been five years old when his grandfather had forced him to enter to karate lessons.

Exactly at five, he parted from his house and walked towards the quaint Kurosaki household. Feeling confident about tonight, mainly since there was no need to become a coward and scattered away before reaching the house. He recalled when his girlfriend mentioned how many boys ran away at the sight of her brother—guessing that many feared him in town. Of course, he wasn't the one to run away since he knew him, but never really cared about other people's opinion regardless of warnings.

"Welcome," a petite woman, Rukia, greeted him at the door. "Come in please, Karin will be down here momentarily."

The house was fair in size, which he liked and appreciated, the orange haired man was not in sight—a good sign. The woman walked past him, heading to the kitchen and snatching some gloves, pulling a pot from the stove. It smelled quite nice, slightly spicy and sweet.

"Take a seat," she indicated at the table set. White simple napkins were place neatly in some design; the white china was put properly with the utensils. "Ichigo! Karin! Come down already!"

Toushiro gave her a curt nod, not knowing what to say really because he hadn't known her well. Kuchiki Rukia was Kurosaki Ichigo's girlfriend, which was about the only thing he knew aside from her being the sister to Kuchiki Byakuya. Silence fell as there was clattering in the kitchen, dinner perhaps was being served or something; he didn't dare to look at all. It was awkward for some reason.

"I'm here," the tall man appeared, ignoring him completely. "Let me help you with that."

Rukia smiled, not protesting at the sudden care that Ichigo was given to her, but she couldn't help but notice his smirk. He was glowing all over the place, not even beginning to insult his sister's boyfriend as of yet, but perhaps she was thinking too early into it. The two brought the food over to the table, setting it in the middle so everyone could grab their own share.

"Ah, didn't notice you here," Ichigo expressed carelessly, setting the jar of flavoured water. "How are you doing?"

"Great, thank you for the invitation, Kurosaki," Toushiro stood up and bowed. It made the man scoff and ignore his sign of respect.

"I'm not the formal type, remember." He sighed as if he were making a child recall their manners. "My sister is taking her sweet time, so we will have to wait a while for her."

"Don't mind it really," he shrugged a little, tearing his gaze from the fiery amber eyes.

Rukia watched the two men simply from the kitchen, while she washed the few dishes that were there. Strange how her boyfriend wasn't arguing with Karin's boyfriend just yet since the words 'civilized' and 'behaved' did not form part of the dictionary at home. Besides, there were no punches or yelling as of yet.

"Toushiro," Karin entered, dressed in her usual casual clothes for the day. Taking a seat besides her boyfriend, she smiled. "Sorry for taking long."

He shook his head. "Don't worry, how are you?"

"Great, bored to death though." The dark haired young woman turned, throwing a look at her brother. "Well, don't you look all happy and glowing?"

The orange haired man scoffed, crossing his arms as his girlfriend took her respective seat beside him and held his hand. Ichigo wasn't about to flaunt around the great news, at least not yet; it was too early for everyone to know and he was still trying to read her little sister's boyfriend. He could tell the guy wasn't bad, it was beyond him why an honest man was dating his sister, but he wasn't going to judge.

Hitsugaya Toushiro looked out for Karin, he was a bit of an uptight person, but grounded enough to keep her in check. Though, he seemed to be careful around her since Karin was exceptionally sensitive in some aspects, so Ichigo guessed that it was a reason to be reasonable and patient.

They chatted during dinner, Toushiro felt like he was being interviewed by the local authorities while Karin's older brother seemed the cop, pointing at him with a light to make him nervous; which he would be far from it. No one in this world could intimidate him easily—perhaps.

Karin sighed simply at the million questions that her brother was throwing at her boyfriend, who answered with logical answers, not afraid to speak his mind and not bothered by them either. Besides, Ichigo was quite in a good mood to care so much about Toushiro's present; he wasn't going to ruin that good mood.

As the evening ended, Toushiro sat in the living room watching television with Karin at his side, her head leaning against her shoulder and laughing at the comic relief of the show. While Ichigo and Rukia had excuse themselves, smiling as they left and he saw when the man touched his girlfriend's stomach. Though, before being allowed to comment, his girlfriend dragged him to the couch and sit to watch some show.

"He's in a good mood," she commented suddenly, shifting her position to look at him. He looked confused. "Ichi-nii, he's going to be a happy guy in a few months."

"Did he win the lottery?" He asked in such serious expression, his turquoise eyes holding an equal expression to them.

Karin snorted. "Of course not, why would he need to win the lottery anyway?" Toushiro shrugged, not really knowing why he had made such comment. "It'll be funny though, but that's not it."

"Then what is?"

With a sigh, she tried with great difficulty not to burst out the answer or express herself quite loudly, since the news were to be kept secret for a while still. Trusting Toushiro was easy, he didn't talk much to anyone and did not care about spreading gossip; which pushed her into telling him about the good news.

"I'm going to be an aunt," she smiled happily; the exuberating expression shocked him quite a bit.

"Ah, but aren't you an aunt already?" Everyone in town knew that the youngest Kurosaki daughter was pregnant during the time she had gotten married, but from what he heard from Karin, she wasn't making visits since it was almost time for her due date.

"That's true, Yuzu is due in July, but I was referring to Ichi-nii actually," a frown painted her forehead. "Rukia-nee found out today that she's at least three weeks pregnant."

"Oh," it was all he managed to say, regardless of the news that was quite unexpected.

Karin huffed. "Ichi-nii is going to be a dad somewhere around in January."

The news had been quite shocking, she had a hard time accepting them because their relationship was short; so Rukia had expressed concern about that.

"Ichigo won't be ready for this, we aren't ready for this!" The hyperventilation was taking over the petite woman. "We don't have a house ready yet, Ichigo isn't done with school and I'm working on getting a promotion."

"Rukia-nee," she tried to stop the mother of her future nice or nephew.

"What will Isshin-san say; I don't even want to imagine what Masaki-san would say-"

"Kuchiki Rukia, please get a grip please!" Karin cut the woman's ranting, sighing quite heavily as she pinched the bridged of her nose. "You won't know until they find out, you'll count with my support."

That had calmed her down; she was even there when Rukia announced the big news to her brother. Whatever was said afterward she did not hear, the other problems were for their own privacy and Karin had excused herself.

"They can't possibly be forced to get married," Toushiro commented. "Your parents don't seem to be the forceful type, but Kuchiki Byakuya is a guy that likes to follow traditions."

She stared mildly at the television, forgetting the humour and events of the episode; none of them had met the man. Rukia talked about him with respect, sometimes in annoyed form about the things that he would say, but never talked bad about him.

"I wouldn't know at all, but they will think of something," she was thoughtful for a moment. "I hope."

* * *

_Sorry for the long, long wait. As promised here's the long waited chapter. Hopefully you guys like it, but its been difficult to think to build up chapters. Going to get a teeth taken out this week, so that'll keep me for at least a day away from writing, but I will try really hard to have another chapter up by the end of this week or weekend, going back to the fun college life again on the 2nd. My apologies again!Thanks for reading! ~bleedingxinxspace  
_

_*ikebana_- the Japanese art of flower arrangement. (In case some of you don't know what it is). _  
_


	8. Annoying Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Hey there guys, its bleedingxinxspace here. Well, many or few (whichever) might be wondering where have I been, well in truth I've been exceptionally busy and perhaps lazying about doing nothing. Yes, many of you will be annoyed by this, but college is a hassle and too much stress going on. In a personal note, I've hit a low point in life where I don't even know what to think at all. College students act like bloody immature high school kids (no offence to anyone) and well that has put a strain in my mental ability and I couldn't deal with it until now. Perhaps it might not be that good of an excuse since it hasn't affected me much, but it just gets in the way when wanting to sit down and write something. Besides, my fourth term is truly not the easiest of them all and currently there's so many projects that need to be done with only two months to finish them all-so my deadlines are really tight.

This decision is one of the most difficult ones I have made, but I will discontinue this story for good. There's no longer inspiration and it has become one of my least favourite fanfics that I've written. So, I went and re-read the entire thing, so I decided to just leave it like that because of school. And, I should start thanking you guys for reading it and reviewing it, but be certain that I will not disappear entirely and just wanted to discontinue this story for various purposes here. I will write still, but in a much slower pace because of school. The pressure is to much, so I ask of you to please understand where I'm coming from. You guys, the awesome readers, are just wonderful and without you perhaps I would've stopped writing a long time ago.

Thank you again for inspiring me and for supporting me, I WILL write again another Hitsu/Karin fic for you guys when I do have something that I like and post it here when I feel more confident about it. Not that I didn't like _Captive Orchid_ it just seemed that my direction on it wasn't how I wanted it to turn out, perhaps I even disliked the way I was writing it more than the plot itself, but whatever the case you WILL hear from me. So, please be patient and don't think that I'm doing this just to dump my problems in one go. There's other issues I must address with school and other things. A million thanks! If I could give everyone of you a hug trust me, I totally would. Hope to see you guys soon with a new story and a new set of mind.

You guys rock!

~bleedingxinxspace


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